The place where Carlos Alcaraz attends to a group of five Spanish journalists who have followed him throughout the United States Open on the day that he has already dawned as the youngest number 1 in history and with a first Grand Slam title in his bag, he offers a metaphor that is suitable for the moment. The 19 year old teenager is, on the 36th floor, comfortable and perched on the heights. There are other towers in Manhattan that rise higher, but this one privileged view it’s not bad at all. And it’s next to Times Square, a place to which the spotlights turn.
At night he went out with his family members and his team to have dinner at a Peruvian restaurant that the Michelin guide speaks wonders about. In a few hours she will fly to Spain, where the plan is to play the Davis cup. But first he complies, professional and smiling, and jovial, with the commitments that victory entails, and opens up, about tennis but also about him.
On the track he doesn’t seem to be afraid of anything. What is Carlos Alcaraz afraid of, as a tennis player and as the 19-year-old boy from Murcia? As a normal and ordinary boy I am afraid of many things. He would say to the dark. I’m also not a fan of scary movies. To spiders probably… To many things. To be honest, As a tennis player I am afraid of disappointing him. That’s probably one of my fears: letting all my people down, not measuring up of what they think. Although he has won a Grand Slam and now number one, tournaments will probably come in which they have expectations and the fear is that they will not be able to live up to it. There are many people who think and opine but my fear is with those around me, since I have little fear of things on the track.
What do you think they expect of you? Well I do not know. There are people who say no, that they don’t care if I lose in the first round, if I lose in the final… But it’s a thought that I have inside.
About eight years ago, he posted a photo on social networks that said: “money, rackets, potatoes. I have it all & rdquor ;. Now she still has rackets, yesterday they gave her a curious check (2.6 million euros), we don’t know if she still likes potatoes. Has it all? (Laughs) When you’re little you post nonsense, right? As you grow older, you realize that there are many more important things than what tennis is, than what is the money and that what is food. You realize more important things.
“I think I’m not a chosen one, I’ve worked for it»
Carlos Alcaraz / US Open Champion
He said on the track at the end that he had made difficult decisions with his family. What are some of those decisions? What do you feel that he has sacrificed to dedicate himself to tennis that he likes so much? What I am saying is that I am young and that there are still decisions in which I did not paint much that they make for me. In the race you have to make those difficult decisions on issues such as (relationships with) brands, training issues, coaches… And they are important things, even if it seems not, and they are doing better than me.
He has achieved his dream of being a number, he has already won a big one. Is there any tournament or any situation right now that would make you particularly excited? Playing with (Roger) Federer. Right now I think I have few options to be able to play with him, but it would be something that I would like. And I think that beat one of the three in a Grand Slam (Federer, Rafa Nadal and Novak Djokovic). I have always said that to be the best you have to win the best.
“I would be especially excited to play against Federer and beat Roger, Nadal or Djokovic in a Grand Slam. To be the best you have to beat the best”
He is breaking records of precocity, he is the youngest number one in history… Do you maintain like a few years ago that you are not a chosen one or are you beginning to think that perhaps you have something special? I stand by my answer. Nobody gives you anything, I think. Nobody makes a click and you have everything you ask for but things have to be worked on, things have to be taken. And I believe that what I have achieved, what I achieved yesterday, a Grand Slam and being number one in the world, has been due to the work that I have been doing together with my team for a long time. It has not been a bed of roses. You have to suffer and you also had to go through bad times to get to this moment. And I believe that I am not chosen nor has anyone said that I am going to be the best, but rather that I have worked for it.
In addition to having his family and his team in his part of mental work, he works with a professional. Where has she helped you? I have been working with a psychologist since 2019, early 2020. Her name is Isabel Balaguer, she is a very good professional and has helped me. I think she is one of the main reasons why she can be number one in the world today. I have improved a lot thanks to her. It is a super important job to have a psychologist by your side working with you, since tennis is demanding week after week, for a whole year you have to be mentally fresh, you have to know how to withstand pressure, withstand that everyone has eyes on you . It is super important to know how to deal with it and I believe that without a psychologist, without anyone to help you in that aspect, it is not impossible, but it is much more complicated.
What does it tell you, what tools does it give you? We talk, he gives me advice, he gives me tools to deal with things on the track. Off the track, he gives me advice on how to deal with times that can be a bit overwhelming.
How does this mental work help you in situations like the one in the quarters (when beat a match point against Jannik Sinner), what is going through your head? I faced it thinking that I had to keep going for it. I had had a match point so far, I was playing well, I felt good and it was not time to go down, but to continue there, to continue showing my good game, that I was feeling quite, quite well. Yes, it’s true that I thought: ‘please, don’t let this escape you, I know it’s going to hurt’. But the 5th set came and I went for it. At least I have the feeling that, if I had lost the game, I would have left with the feeling of ‘I went for it, I left everything, I had many options, it couldn’t be and it will be’. That was my thought.
“Politics is something I don’t pay much attention to. When the time comes I’ll see if I’ll vote or not. But I’m proud to be from Murcia and to be Spanish”
Have you incorporated new routines, or do you stick with the ones you had? What do you always do before games, and during? I have been strengthening the routines that I had, I have been doing them better and better, each time I have been incorporating it as something more natural to me. Before games, it’s not like I have a clear routine. Obviously I have my warm-up, that I always do the same thing, basically I always try to go to the same place with my team. But I’m not saying good: five minutes with me before the game, headphones, such… If I feel like listening to music, I listen to music; If not, I don’t listen to music. I go how I feel like at that moment. Yes, it is true that in the game the theme of going to the towel, the theme of catching four balls, throwing them five times, the bottles always drink first one, then another, the snack always first of the bar, after banana … These are things that come to mind and are a bit of mania.
Yesterday when he was asked if he was proud to be from El Palmar, he extended it and said that he was proud to be from Murcia and also to be Spanish. He’s 19 years old. He can vote now. Are you interested in politics? He has a political conscience?
No, I do not have. The truth is that politics is something I don’t pay much attention to. You get a lot of news, a lot of things about politics and I’m more or less up to date, but very little, really. When the time comes I will see if I will vote or not vote. It’s something I don’t pay much attention to right now, honestly. But I am proud to be and to be from Murcia and to be Spanish, and I say it with great pride.
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What activities do you like to do with friends? How is a day in your life outside of tennis? Now that the weather has been good, I liked going to the beach with them, but when it’s winter, it’s quiet. I am a very basic boy, who enjoys being with five or six friends sitting on a bench, in a car, in a house, talking quietly, having a good time, laughing, telling each other anecdotes. That makes me happy.
Nadal will not want Djokovic to win more titles because it would take him off his all-time record. You only have one, but you already have a record. Would you like Nadal to stay there to be closer? No, no, what’s up, not at all, not at all. I will always be proud that Rafa wins Grand Slams. And obviously, if I unfortunately lose in a Grand Slam, know that I will be cheering for him to win. I will always be with a Spaniard and cheering on a Spaniard. Honestly, I’ve won one, I don’t feel any closer. For now I’m going to think about the second and try to achieve it, which very few people have been able to. For now, that’s my goal.