Oui, Carlos Alcaraz n'est "que" 3e au classement ATP. Mais il a remporté deux des quatre derniers Grands Chelems, et rêve de son premier Open d'Australie. L'Espagnol a toujours très bien joué à Melbourne, mais n'a jamais dépassé les quarts de finale. D'ailleurs, "Carlitos" pourrait croiser un certain Novak Djokovic dès les quarts. Pas de chance. Et il y a la difficulté de faire tomber Jannik Sinner, tenant du titre, n°1 mondial et invincible depuis quelques mois. Mais avant, la route est longue. Premier tour déjà bien relevé lundi, face au Kazakh Alexander Shevchenko (72e). Samedi, le vainqueur du dernier Roland-Garros s'est présenté en conférence de presse.
Photos : @AustralianOpen / @ChinaOpen
Photos : @AustralianOpen / @ChinaOpen
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00:00Well, it's been a really good week. Yeah, I prefer to not come into any tournament before
00:10the Australian Open, just to have more time to do a good precision, to get ready for this
00:18swing, for this tournament. And yeah, it has been, as I said, it has been a really good
00:23week, practising with the best and, you know, seeing what is my level and just getting ready.
00:30English questions first. Raise your hand and introduce yourself, please.
00:35Hi, I'm Elrae from the AOB Zone. I was wondering if you could pick any skill set from any player,
00:41past or present, which player and what skill set would it be?
00:46What's a good one? I would pick probably Agassi's return or I'm going to go with Agassi's return.
01:09I think that's a good one. Yeah.
01:12Catherine.
01:14Hi, Carlos. Catherine Ritzger, Tennis Podcast. I wanted to ask about the changes to your
01:19service motion. Just talk us through what they are, whether it feels natural to you
01:26yet, whether you're having to remind yourself to do it the new way. Just talk us through
01:32all of that.
01:33Well, yeah, I mean, I didn't have too much time in the pre-season, so I just worked as
01:43much as I could, you know, in the pre-season to do a good, I mean, a good serve. But right
01:54now, I'm still thinking about it. I still remind myself, you know, how I have to do
01:59it. But, you know, every day it's getting better and better, or I'm feeling better and
02:05better with it. We knew that I had to change something there in the service to be better
02:11on it. And yeah, I think it's, you know, there are some times that I think that I, or I feel
02:20like it is a problem with it because sometimes, you know, or in the match that I've played
02:27or in the practice, there are some games that I'm not doing the right thing. So I have
02:32to keep thinking about it. But, you know, it is something that I will take really good.
02:41I will serve without thinking about it, just going to be natural. But right now, I'm still
02:49working on it, but I believe it will live, you know, that doubts and it's going to be
02:58natural.
03:00Hi Carlos. Last year, your coach Juan Carlos wasn't here in Melbourne. During your matches,
03:07he talks to you a lot. I was wondering how important is it for you during matches and
03:12what kind of advice does he give you?
03:15Well, Juan Carlos is with me six years now, so he knows me really well and he knows what
03:25I need during the matches, how the things have to be said, you know, during the matches.
03:33So I don't know. I mean, as I said last year, I mean, for me, Juan Carlos is really important
03:41and I really like being with him in the tournaments. But last year, for example, I was with Samuel
03:49that right now is my second coach. So I trust him 100% as well. But right now, this year,
03:56he's here in Melbourne. So probably some situations, I don't know if it depends on him, depends
04:04on what he's watching on the matches. So he has to tell me some or other things. Can't
04:13tell you one right now. But I mean, for me, being with Juan Carlos and having him here
04:19is great.
04:22Hi Carlos. You obviously know that Korea Grand Slam is on your mind this year. Any other
04:29goals apart from that for this season?
04:32Well, for me, the goal is to try to win Grand Slams. Master 1000, that's for me the most
04:40important tournament of the world. Obviously, the ranking is up there in the goals as well.
04:50Trying to get as close as I can to Yannick or try to pass SVF as well. So the ranking
05:02is there, but the main thing for me is Grand Slams. Try to win as much Grand Slams as I
05:08can. So that's my goal.
05:12Carlos, what's the thing that gives you the most satisfaction as a player? Is it particular
05:19shots? Is it coming through tight matches? What's the thing that gets you most proud?
05:25I think when everything is going right. So when you feel like you can miss, you can do
05:33whatever you should do, but everything is going to be in. So that's the most satisfying
05:39thing that I feel on court. When you hit great shots, running, forehand, drop shots,
05:45volley, serve and volley. So everything that you want to do, you feel like it's going to
05:52be right. So that's the most satisfying thing for me.
05:57Hey Carlos, what do you like best about the rivalry you are establishing with Yannick
06:07and do you go into matches against him with a different mindset than against other opponents?
06:15Yeah, a little bit. I mean when I'm playing against him, I have a different mindset or
06:25a little bit. I mean when you're facing the best players in the world, you have to do
06:34something different. Different preparation or different mindset or whatever. So when
06:41I'm facing him, I just know that I have to play my best if I want to win. And that's
06:50it. Probably if I have a bad day against Yannick, it's 99% that you're going to lose.
06:58So that's what is in my mind every time that I'm going to play against him. And the good
07:04thing for me is when I'm seeing him winning titles, when I'm seeing him in the top of
07:13the ranking, it forces me to practice even harder every day. And in the practice, I'm
07:23just thinking the things that I have to improve just to play against him. So that thing I
07:31think is great for me, having him and having such a great rivalry so far. Just to give
07:40the best of me every day.
07:46What has last year taught you about being able to perform at a high level consistently
07:54through the whole year? And also separately, what was the thought behind hiring Samuel Lopez?
08:02What is the second question?
08:05Hiring Samuel Lopez as your other coach?
08:09I don't want to think about how long the season is going to be. I just want it to go month
08:19by month, tournament by tournament. And we will see. But obviously, as I said so many
08:24times, after you saw Ben, for me it's kind of difficult to stay at a high level. I'm
08:36tired. I've played a lot of tournaments. I had a lot of time outside home. So for me
08:46it's difficult that part of the year. But last year I did much better than in 2023.
08:51So hopefully this year is going to be better. So it depends on the year. At the beginning
08:58of the year, how it's going to be. If I'm going to play more matches, less matches,
09:02if I win or not. So that's tennis. You can't see what's going to be in May or June if you
09:13don't play any matches at the beginning. So I don't know how it's going to be.
09:21And then with Samuel, I knew that I had to be with someone else than Juan Carlos that
09:28can help Juan sometimes and travel or mix or split tournaments. So I have someone to
09:38refresh a little bit between tournaments. It's going to be great. And obviously Samuel
09:42is someone that I trust 100%. He's a really good coach. He coached Juan Carlos when he
09:51played. So he's going to be a great coach for me, I'm sure.
09:58What is it that you want to get out of the new serve motion? Why are you hitting it that
10:04way in order to power, spin, placement? What is the goal?
10:09Good rhythm. Before, probably one of the most issues that I have on the serve is the rhythm.
10:19I didn't get the good rhythm. So I think with this one, I'm going to get a good rhythm just
10:27to hit in the right spot every time. And I think something that I have to improve is the
10:38precision. I have to be more and more precise on the serve. And I think with a good rhythm
10:44it's going to help a lot. So I think that's what I'm looking for.