At midday on track 18 of the RCTB, Carlos Alcaraz (19) bowls alongside Casper Ruud.
He entertains himself for two hours. Even longer.
Exercise is important, and it suits the Murcian well, since this spring he has barely touched the clay.
It is true, last February it has been exhibiting in Buenos Aires (title) and Rio de Janeiro (finalist), but then it had submerged itself in the synthetic of Indian Wells (another title) and Miami (semifinalist), and there was no longer any touched clay again, not even in Monte Carlo these days.
–And for me, playing on the ground is like being in a battle. You must play more tactically –says the Murcian talent, whose vision of tennis directly confronts that of Stéfanos Tsitsipás, the elegant Greek who says:
–Playing on the ground is like painting on a canvas.
(...)
When he plays tennis, Alcaraz also paints.
He traces drop shots, lobs and volleys, and marks the tempos of the game, and now he tears the opponent with an ace and then entertains himself with the blue of the sky or the sea, lengthening the rallies in all their nuances.
But in the end, his game becomes violent, accelerates and torments the adversary, who is confused and even clouded, because he does not know what is coming now, what surprise the Murcian has in store for him, the teenager who already has a big title (the US Open of 2022), and has been the earliest number 1 in history (19 years and four months), and also defends the title in Barcelona, here where Rafael Nadal will not be, still weighed down by his psoas injury.
"If Nadal isn't there..." we asked Alcaraz, already in the afternoon, in the belly of the club.
I'm a tennis player, I know that. But I am also a fan of this sport. And I always want to see the best players in every tournament. And it's a shame not to have him here. And I wish him recovery as soon as possible.
–Y sin Medvedev, ¿se and más favorito?
-It's just that I don't see tennis that way. No absence makes me feel more favorite. I understand that everyone can beat me. And for this reason, no matter how much I review the table of a tournament, I limit myself to focusing on the first round, and from there I do not go until I have played it.
(This time he will not play the first round: he is the first seed in the tournament, and he has a Bye, and his rival will come out of the Ivashka-Borges duel).
"Ivashka or Borges?"
–Everyone is very tough, everyone can beat you.
And he will not abandon the speech, a mantra that every tennis player repeats, in fact every athlete, because that is how they shield themselves inward and outward.
–A year ago, you were struggling to enter the Top 10. Now you are the second in the world and, for a few months, you have been the leader of the circuit. How has your tennis evolved?
-In maturity. On the track I read things better, I understand what to correct if something goes wrong.
–But, does he serve better, volley better, has his backhand grown...?
As for blows, I feel the same. The difference is in the mind. And that, in a sport like tennis, is important, huh?
–And in your day to day, has your life changed?
-In nothing. I feel like the usual guy, I have the same group of friends, I keep separating tennis from my personal life.
–And the Alcaraz-Sinner duels, what can we expect from them?
(Sinner had defeated Alcaraz in Miami, just two weeks ago).
–We are both still very young (Sinner is 21 years old), and every time we face each other there are fun matches to watch (they are 3-3 in the face-to-face). Let's see if our rivalry is like that of Nadal, Federer and Djokovic.
Sinner is also in Barcelona. He's the fourth seed, he's on the other side of the draw.
