tennis
Following in Becker’s footsteps: Alcaraz conquers self-doubt
Carlos Alcaraz celebrates after his victory. photo
© Ryan Sun/AP/dpa
Carlos Alcaraz had not won a title since his Wimbledon triumph. In Indian Wells he draws level with a German icon – and talks about “problems in my head”.
Boris Becker was happy to share his record Carlos Alcaraz. Spain’s young star was the first professional since the German tennis icon to secure the title at the Masters in Indian Wells for the second time in a row at the age of under 21. “Congratulations,” Becker wrote to Alcaraz and spread the statistics on social networks. “He’s getting back to his best.”
Alcaraz was recently looking for this strongest version of himself. The world number two spread his arms all the more relieved after the final victory against the Russian Daniil Medvedev. Alcaraz had not won a title since his Wimbledon triumph more than eight months ago – and now revealed nagging self-doubt. “It means a lot to me to hold this trophy, to win this tournament, because I had to overcome a lot of problems in my head, a lot of physical problems,” the Spaniard admitted with relief.
At the end of February, Alcaraz was slowed down by an ankle injury in Rio de Janeiro – not the first injury of his career. His opening training session in Indian Wells only lasted 30 minutes and he couldn’t move, the Spaniard recalled. “I had a lot of doubts, especially about my ankle. I didn’t play my best tennis, I didn’t feel good. But then I improved game after game.”
At the Australian Open at the start of the year, Alcaraz had to admit defeat to Alexander Zverev. After the confident quarter-final victory in the Californian desert over the German Olympic champion, the 20-year-old then also defeated the Italian Jannik Sinner as the currently strongest professional.
We turned the deficit with fighting spirit
In the final against Medvedev, Alcaraz was already 0-3 behind, but then fought back and ultimately won the round in the tiebreak. In the second set, the Spaniard only gave up one game and had little trouble winning the first Masters 1000 tournament of the season with 7:6 (7:5), 6:1. “Winning tournaments helps. That gives me confidence for the next tournaments and everything that comes,” said Alcaraz.
The youngest world number one in the history of professional tennis also made it onto another illustrious list. Only his compatriot Rafael Nadal was able to celebrate at least five tournament wins in the Masters category at the age of 20.
Alcaraz wants to expand on this balance in the next two weeks directly in Miami. The chance of this is even greater since the Serbian world number one Novak Djokovic has canceled due to his private schedule.
Before heading to Florida, Alcaraz first had to survive another bizarre situation. In the duel with Zverev, a swarm of bees had caused a long break, and at the press conference after the final victory, a tinny voice suddenly sounded from the loudspeakers: The building had to be evacuated immediately due to an emergency. Alcaraz laughed, looked around confused and then used the false alarm to make a joke: “I think it’s because of my fire on the pitch.”