Agent Albert Molina's smile and that joke says a lot. With a serious expression, always tending toward neutrality, he schedules a consultation with the doctor Juanjo López, who laughs to the beat. “For anything else you need, you ask the doctor, eh?” Moments before, the doctor in question was waiting with a small group of Spanish reporters for Carlos Alcaraz to finish attending to a couple of televisions in a small studio. That commitment closed, the tennis player (6-1, 6-1 and 1-0 against Chinese Juncheng Shang) approaches and points to the double Michael Jordan print that he wears on his chest: “T-shirt, t-shirt! “Cool, huh?” The garment, generous in size, falls to the middle of the thighs and gives the athlete the look of a trap singer.
Alcaraz speaks once he has made it to the round of 16 of the Australian Open and the bowed and lowered visor of his cap barely allows his eyes to be seen. “We're ready (prepared)”, he says in the course of those five minutes of conversation, in which he analyzes and approves: basically, he is where he wanted and how he wanted, happily immersed in the second week of the great Australian. This first time he closes the circle and completes the poker that began to take shape at Roland Garros, Wimbledon and the US Open. At 20 years old, it is already a constant to see him in the final seasons of big tournaments. The opposite would be a major surprise. The man from Murcia, always ready, answers one by one and, when faced with EL PAÍS's approach, he emphasizes his ambition.
He is reminded of what Novak Djokovic said these days, who said that when he began to make himself noticed and bother the nobility of the circuit, back in 2007, the rest of the contenders—specifically, “the top”, that is, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer – they were not very happy that he openly expressed his ambition and desire to become the best of the best. A very similar line to the one that comes from his speech today, only now he is the one who has Nole in front of him, while the Swiss is already enjoying retirement and the Mallorcan is fighting for a farewell on the track. Alcaraz belongs to the lineage of those champions who speak clearly. He says that the situation is different and that his words don't have to bother.
“No, I don't think so,” he introduces. “I don't see it that way. In the end, everyone has to look out for themselves. I am not afraid to express what I want to achieve and what I want to achieve. I have always said that you have to dream big,” she emphasizes with the gesture; “I am not afraid to openly say what my dreams and objectives are. There may be people who like it and others who don't, but one of the things I have learned is that I can't please everyone, and whatever I say, whatever I say or whatever I do, there will be people who like it more and others who like it less. We are one way, I am ambitious and I am not afraid to say things.”
Previously, in the conference room, the number two in the world came to say that Björn Borg's performance is very good, that taking a record from the Swedish legend—seven consecutive appearances in the round of 16 of a great team as well, but being more young – is a good starting point, but what really concerns him is to one day surpass Djokovic himself, the man of records. That is, reaching infinity. “The ones I really want to beat are the ones Novak is achieving, those are the ones I aim for in my career. These types of records are very good, they are great, but we try not to give importance to them, but to continue improving to be better.”
The Murcian, an instinctive, direct boy, without any middle ground, has never imposed restrictions on himself. He sees himself doing great things and he verbalizes it naturally. Without arrogance, he says. Time, he clarifies, will put everything in its place. And to him, demanded by his own bar, too. “I'm not arrogant, I simply trust myself,” he responded in a meeting with this newspaper in London, the day after conquering Wimbledon and recovering number one. “The very long-term goal is to be considered one of the best in history. I have always said it, that goal may be too big, too ambitious or they may think I am arrogant, but in the end in this life you have to think and dream big, and you have to go for it. “I am very clear about what I want to achieve in the future.”
Three years earlier, when he was only 17 and still designing the assault on the elite, he did not camouflage his aspiration either. He expressed himself at the Villena academy, Alicante. “If I work hard, I think I can reach the top. My dream is to be number one in the world and for that I train every day with the maximum possible intensity,” he explained to this newspaper while his coach, the Valencian Juan Carlos Ferrero, indicated: “It has been a long time since I saw someone So. I hope I'm not wrong, but I think it's going to be up there soon. And ten years from now I would like to see him as number one and with greats on his resume.” The coach imagined a quick rise, and specified: “But to do so, you must put dedication and fanaticism into it.”
Stiletto of this latest generation (the centennial) of athletes who burst in without fear or mincing words, very forward, Alcaraz recovers the tone of that original Djokovic who slipped into the story of two between Nadal and Federer, and also of the current Nole, a devourer who transmits without ambiguity the desire to achieve all the records within his reach, without exception. While Federer always let the facts and their magic speak, always in the line of correctness and moderation, and Nadal has admitted that the ultimate objective is to win, but with a “healthy” ambition and from a perspective that would prevent him from falling. In frustration, the Serbian insists on pronouncing to the four winds his intention of not stopping until history recognizes him indisputably as the most successful of all time.
“I continue playing tennis because I want to be the best, and I have never been afraid to say it. I was confident and felt like I had the game for it. “I never disrespected anyone,” says the one from Belgrade, at the head of the great historic race with four majors, two more than Nadal (22) and four than Federer (20); “I always saluted at the beginning and at the end of the games and recognized the opponent. I know that Federer didn't like the way I behaved, it didn't suit him; I don't know about the others. I imagine he was not her favorite.” And Borg already warned in 2007, as a visionary: “Djokovic is at the level of Federer and Nadal. He is very young, but he is already there. He can beat anyone. It is very good for tennis that the rivalry is between three, and not two.”
At the moment, Alcaraz is looking for a generational adversary, although Jannik Sinner (22 years old) and Holger Rune (20) seem to be running, waiting for more actors to join the scene. In any case, the Italian's cautious tone contrasts with the Dane's guerrilla profile and the Spaniard's undisguised appetite, which is now reaffirmed in Melbourne, where he will face the Serbian Miomir Kecmanovic (24 years old and 60th in the world) on Monday. . “Obviously, taking a record from a legend like Björn Borg [11 grandes en el expediente, cinco Wimbledons seguidos y retirado por voluntad propia a los 26 años] It is always appreciated, it is always very good,” he values; “But, if you give it too much importance, maybe it can work against you. So we try to forget these kinds of things.”
Loud and clear: Alcaraz says he wants it all, without circumlocutions or detours. How far it will go is a story yet to be seen.
You can follow EL PAÍS Deportes in Facebook and xor sign up here to receive our weekly newsletter.
Subscribe to continue reading
Read without limits
_
#Carlos #Alcaraz #dreamer #limits #afraid #ambitious