Carlos Alcaraz: I want to be one of the best in history

Carlos Alcaraz is only 19, but has already set his sights on being one of tennis’ best-ever players.

Alcaraz suffered with an injury at the start of the year following his Flushing Meadows win, but he says that he has drawn inspiration from the successes enjoyed by Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic after their own absences from the tour.

The 19-year-old is targeting further Masters 1000 and Grand Slam successes in 2023 to follow his Indian Wells crown, and he regards it as an honour to be a role model for the next generation.

Ultimately, Alcaraz wants to be spoken about in the same breath as Nadal and Djokovic, but he is intent on writing his own history as one of the best players to have played the game.

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While I’ve been out injured, I’ve realised a lot of things. When you miss a huge tournament like the Australian Open, you think about what you are doing wrong.

An injury can happen to anyone, but when I analysed the situation with my team, we concluded that it is important to do the right things off the court as well as on it, and I wasn’t always doing that 100%. I’m talking about rest, nutritional supplementation, eating well etc. There were a number of things that maybe I wasn’t doing right. Through the injury, I learned that I had to get back to the routine I had previously, to get back to doing all those things right to be at my best. I think because of the injury, I’ve been doing that now and it’s no secret that, when you do things right, good results will follow.

The injury has been a learning process. I had to be calm and it has helped me to mature a lot off the court. These were not easy days for me, they were quite hard. I had to stay focused and train to come back stronger. During my recovery, as I have done on several occasions, I worked a lot with my psychologist. She helps me a lot both on and off the court. The off-court side is almost more important, as you spend most of your time there.

I thought a lot about Nadal when I was recovering from my injury. Often when the best players have been out for a long time, they win their first tournament back. I wanted to be one of those players. Those examples of successful returns have motivated me – like what Rafa did at the 2022 Australian Open, and when Djokovic has returned from absences, he has won important tournaments. These examples are inspirations to think, ‘let’s get back training’ because I also want to come back the best I can to try to win.

The injury gave me time to pursue my other passions. I’ve always loved sneakers, but I started getting interested to the point of collecting a year or so ago. I am fortunate to work with Nike. They have an impressive sneaker tradition and culture – they could be putting out a model a day for a long time by just reissuing great classics! I recently visited their headquarters in Oregon, USA, and I was impressed. They gave me several exclusive shoes, including a couple of personalised models that I love – one for winning the US Open and others with the three C’s, my grandfather’s motto (cabeza, corazón y cojones: head, heart and balls). I have been able to get some very hard to find ones, such as the Air Force 1 Off-White Brooklyn. These are a creation of Virgil Abloh, a designer who changed fashion and left an eternal mark on the industry. I’m glad I was able to get my hands on one of the last designs he created before he died.

I also use social media a lot – probably more than I should. Nowadays, its power has increased. A lot of people use it as a way of working and it’s a very important tool, also for me. I keep in touch with fans, I give information about where I am, how I am doing and I interact with them.

I try not to think about whether I’m a sports icon or a role model for young people. I just want to keep trying to improve. In the end, I love playing tennis, and obviously, I love to win as I’m a very competitive guy.

I have my own identity playing. I always try to play ‘happy’ tennis. I consider myself a happy person off the court, so I try to play that way.

I think that nowadays, tennis is very dynamic: going up to the net, drop shots, big shots; that’s what attracts attention. I try to enjoy myself on the court and to not make everything too monotonous. I try to create, and produce rare, beautiful shots.

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At the end of my career, I would like to be remembered as a good person, a normal, natural and happy person. Playing on instinct and joy are two tenants of my game. If I don’t play on instinct and if I don’t play with joy, my tennis is not the same. I think life is better that way. That’s the most important thing of all.

Of course, being someone that young kids look up to is a big hope for me. I try to pass on good values both on and off the court. I also had my idols, and to potentially be one of those for the new generation would be wonderful.

In Miami, I’m going to have to start defending a lot of points. I think about that subconsciously because you want to be at the top of the rankings. But together with my team, we have always said that the important thing is the race to the Nitto ATP Finals. If you have a good year in the race, you will finish high in the rankings. I don’t worry too much about defending points, I just think about enjoying the tournament I am playing, and trying to do the best I can.

When thinking about a goal for this year, I have to win a Grand Slam… or at least try to win another Grand Slam and more Masters 1000 events. Those are big goals for me. Staying at world No. 1, you get there by winning majors and Masters 1000s, it is no secret. I will try to do my best in these kinds of tournaments.

I want to beat Nadal and Djokovic, but I am not here to take any Grand Slams away from them or prevent either of them from being the best of all time. I am just trying to write my own history.

I want to win Slams. I am ambitious and my goals are big, I’m not going to lie. My dream is to be one of the best in history, to try to get somehow close to them. I know it will be very complicated – maybe even impossible – but in this world you have to think big and dream big. In the end, that is my dream today.

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