A showdown between Spain and France took place at Wimbledon on Sunday and world No.3 Carlos Alcaraz hopes the outcome will be repeated at another event later this week.
The former world No.1 overcame Ugo Humbert in four sets to seal his place in the quarter-finals for the second year in a row. He is aiming to become the first male player outside of the Big Three to defend their title at SW19 since Pete Sampras more than 20 years ago. Alcaraz already has a trio of major titles to his name with each of those being on different surfaces.
Whilst he is focused on his performance, the 21-year-old admits he does hope his recent victory will come as a good omen for his country’s football team in the semi-finals of the Euros on Tuesday at 8pm GMT. Coincidentally they are playing Humbert’s country of France.
“I have a really good relationship with a few players of the team. In particular, with Alvaro Morata. He’s a really goodfriend.” He said.
“I support them (Spain) every four years. So right now it’s time to support them, as I know they’re supporting me when I’mplaying matches or I’m playing tournaments. It’s my turn.”
Spain has won the Euros three times before and their most recent triumph was in 2012 when Alcaraz would have only been nine.
“Hopefully they’re going to get the same results as me today,” he continued.
“I won in the tennis part, so hopefully the Spanish team going to win the football part.”
Despite the two sporting events clashing, the All England Club has stated that they had no intention of showing the Euros on site. Even though England’s crucial semi-final clash with the Netherlands will take place on Tuesday evening.England’s games draw a massive audience in their home country with their quarter-final nail-biter against Switzerland generating a peak TV audience of almost 17M on BBC One and an additional 8.9m online.
“We’re very much focused on the tennis, this has been the case in the past,” The Chief Executive of The All England Club, Sally Bolton, told reporters on the first day of this year’s tournament.
“We won’t be showing the football on any of the screens here. We’re confident that everyone who’s coming here will want to watch the tennis.
“There will be no special arrangements.”
Alcaraz will play his quarter-final match on the same day as his country’s Euros match. Depending on the order of pay, it is possible the two events could clash.
