Carlos Alcaraz says he can’t let his guard down if he wishes to dethrone Novak Djokovic from the top of the rankings in the future after reaching the quarter-finals of the Rio Open.
The world No.2 endured a testing encounter against Italy’s Fabio Fognini before prevailing 6-7(5), 6-2, 6-4, after almost three hours of play. Alcaraz struggled with his serve early on in the match after racing to a 3-1 lead before getting broken three consecutive times as Fognini clinched the opener. However, he overcame the blip in the following two sets where he won eight out of his nine serving games and broke his rival four times.
“It was a game with many ups and downs, it is true that I started well, that I had opportunities to get 4-0 up, but I did not finish taking enough risks and that is why what happened happened,” the Spanish website Punto de Break quoted Alcaraz as saying afterwards.
“Then in the tiebreak, it is true that he played really well, in my head it was clear that it would be a long match, but in the end I conditioned myself to play better, until I was able to win. I think that physically I was a little better at the last moments.”
Alcaraz is currently on a six-match winning streak after winning the Argentina Open last week in what was his first tournament of the season. The Spaniard missed last month’s Australian Open after injuring his leg during the off-season.
As of this week, the 19-year-old is almost 600 points behind Djokovic in the race to No.1. In 2022 Alcaraz became the youngest player in history to top the ATP Pepperstone rankings. He faces the tough task of trying to reclaim the top spot against a resurgent Djokovic who won 12 straight matches in January and will return to action next week in Dubai. Next Monday the Serbian will break the record for the most weeks that the No.1 ranking has been held by a singles player.
“For me, he is now the best in the world, as well as being one of the best in the entire history of tennis along with Rafa Nadal and Roger Federer. All three have dominated the men’s tour for the past 20 years,” Alcaraz said of Djokovic.
“I can’t let my guard down, I have to go tournament by tournament if I want to continue to be close to Djokovic in the ranking, although being where I am is already a privilege”.
Recently Djokovic paid tribute to Alcaraz during a press conference in Belgrade but added that it is long-time nemesis Rafael Nadal who is his ‘biggest rival and probably will remain the biggest rival.’
“You have to understand it, in the end I think they have played each other almost 60 times, including many semifinals and finals of Grand Slam tournaments, semifinals and finals of Masters 1000, they have practically faced each other in all kinds of tournaments and all kinds of finals,” Alcaraz commented on the Djokovic-Nadal rivalry.
“In my case, I’ve only faced Novak once, I’ve just arrived (to the Tour) to say, although now I’m fighting with him to be number one. But that doesn’t mean that I’m his biggest rival, they’ve shared a circuit for two decades, and they’ve played legendary matches, so it’s normal for him to say that.”
In Rio Alcaraz will next play Dusan Lajovic in the last eight in what will be their second meeting in as many weeks. Last week in Buenos Aires he eased to a 6-4, 6-2, victory.
