In July, a range of journalists had the opportunity to visit Carlos Alcaraz in the house that his team had rented a stone's throw from Wimbledon. It happened on a Monday, a day after the Murcian talent had won the London Grand Slam, the second major of his sporting career.
There were several reporters in the place and a queue had formed, and the wait became longer, the wait to interview Alcaraz: the Murcian team had prepared individualized talks for us, lasting ten or fifteen minutes.
While I was waiting my turn, I had the opportunity to talk with Carlos Alcaraz Sr., the father of talent. The man, close and affable, told me about the qualities of his son.
Told me:
–As there are hardly any grass courts in the world, and as there is hardly any time to train on grass before arriving at Wimbledon, Carlitos had decided to prepare for the tournament by watching videos of Federer and Nadal playing on grass.
–Federer and Nadal...? And he didn't think about watching Djokovic? -I answered.
(I am a journalist: I answered him with a question).
–Carlitos did not want to analyze Djokovic because he interpreted that the Serbian, on grass, did impossible things, things that my son did not see himself capable of doing.
-For example...?
-Skate. Djokovic skates on the grass. Only one other tennis player does that: Jannik Sinner.
-And good?
–Well, look, when Carlitos and Djokovic were playing the fifth set of that final, I realized something incredible: I realized that my son was beginning to skate on the grass. He had spent the game analyzing Djokovic!
(The tennis lover knows this well, I have also anticipated it in the first paragraph: Alcaraz would end up winning that final).
(...)
Daniil Medvedev knocked out Alcaraz this weekend in New York and, after his victory, the Russian opened up. He said:
–To beat Alcaraz, I had to play better than myself. I have been at a level of 12 out of 10.
To assimilate Medvedev's reflection, we just need to review the match. This Medvedev was not the one from other moments: he was not the one who had resoundingly compromised against Alcaraz in their two previous encounters in 2023.
On the contrary, the Russian played like Alcaraz. Instead of taking advantage of the back of the court and sending forehands left and right, Medvedev displayed variable tennis, invested more time in vertical runs than in lateral ones, went up to the net and cornered Alcaraz: he transfigured his game to continue growing , perhaps inspired by Alcaraz himself, the twenty-year-old who learned to skate on grass while watching Djokovic.
