Carlos Alcaraz got a taste of La Liga a week ago. The Real Madrid supporter appeared at the Santiago Bernabeu to watch the Real Madrid-Espanyol match. At the end of the match, 19-year-old Alcaraz also joined the Real Madrid players’ trophy festival.
Even if he tastes La Liga as a celebrity fan, it will not be added to his list of achievements. Within a week, the Spanish tennis star took the burden of his achievement a little heavier. Alcaraj lost to defending champion Alexander Zverev in straight sets in the final of the Madrid Open yesterday.
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Alcaraz won his first Masters in Miami last month. Since then, Spain has been dreaming of another star in tennis after Rafael Nadal. And Alcaraj has hinted that the dream could come true at the Madrid Open. They lost to Nadal in the quarter-finals, but lost to top-seeded Novak Djokovic in the semi-finals after falling behind by one set. In the final, the second seed lost to Zverev 6-3, 6-1.
Alcaraj will move up six places in the rankings before the start of the French Open. For the Spanish star, this win is different from all the others, ‘This is a special tournament. Because, I come to watch this tournament from the age of seven or eight. ‘
Alkaraj was in power from the beginning of the match. Alcaraz broke Zverev’s third serve in the first set, after which the German star could not return to the match. Alcaraj also broke Zverev’s serve three times in the second set.
Zverev blamed the tournament schedule for the rate, saying: “This schedule needs to be a little better. Yesterday I started my match at 11 pm, played till half past one. It was five o’clock in the morning when I got back to the hotel to eat, to work with the physio to keep my body fit for tomorrow. If you stay up till 4-5 o’clock, you will be tired the next day. If you do this for two days in a row, you are completely finished. ‘
Despite being in charge of the tournament schedule, Zverev called Alkaraj the best player in the world right now. The Spanish youngster, however, politely declined, saying, ‘Djokovic is at the top of the rankings. Although I have won in Barcelona and lost to Djokovic and Nadal in Madrid, I do not consider myself the best in the world. Tomorrow I will probably be sixth (in the rankings), which means I have five more in front of me on the way to the best. ‘
