Just minutes after booking his place in the quarter-finals of the Cinch Championships Carlos Alcaraz headed back to the practice courts.
The world No.2 eased his way to a 6-2, 6-3, win over Czech Republic’s Jiri Lehecka in his second round match. Alcaraz produced a total of 21 winners against only seven unforced errors and saved all three break points he faced. The clash was a significantly more straightforward encounter for the Spaniard compared to earlier this week when he was forced to come back from a set down to beat French lucky loser Arthur Rinderknech.
There was undoubtedly an improvement in his game on Thursday at The Queen’s Club. Although he is eager to get even better ahead of Wimbledon which starts in less than two weeks.
“I play great, I’m really happy with my performance and with the way that I played but I can be better,” Alcaraz said afterwards.
“Samuel (Lopez) told me to do some stuff after the match. Some serves, forehands just to feel a little bit better.’
“But it doesn’t mean that I’m not happy with the way that I hit the ball or the way that I played today.”
Alcaraz is being mentored by Lopez who is the current coach of Pablo Carreno Busta. Busta has withdrawn from Wimbledon due to a long-term injury. His main coach Juan Carlos Ferrero is taking a week off, according to the ATP Tour.
Queen’s is only the third grasscourt event the 20-year-old has played on the Tour and it is his first outside of Wimbledon. Besides getting used to the surface, there have also been questions about his fitness following his loss to Novak Djokovic at the French Open. During that match, he suffered from severe cramping.
“I’m feeling great. I’m not worried about it,” he said of his current fitness. “I’m really happy with everything that I’m doing right now.”
Part of his preparation for the grass has involved studying videos of some of the legends of the game to see what he can learn. However, 23-time Grand Slam winner and reigning Wimbledon champion Djokovic is ironically not one of those.
“I want to look up to the best players on grass and movers. On grass, Roger (Federer) and Andy (Murray) for me are the best players that are moving great on grass. So I want to be like them,” he explains.
“I’m not talking about Djokovic because Djokovic slides like on clay courts and this is not my case. I will try to put similar stuff in my game that Roger and Andy do on the grass.”
“You have to be more focused on the footwork. I can’t slide as I do on clay or on a hard court.”
Alcaraz has now reached his 25th Tour-level quarter-final. In the next round, he will play Grigor Dimitrov who defeated Argentina’s Francisco Cerundolo in his second round match.
