LONDON: Carlos Alcaraz said he played his best match at Wimbledon yet after beating Andrey Rublev to reach the quarter-finals.
Alcaraz’s latest encounter at Wimbledon saw him having to fight back from a set down to win 6-7(5), 6-3, 6-4, 6-4. Something he did three times at the tournament last year en route to the title. World No.14 Rublev matched his intensity early on with some powerful hitting as he edged Alcaraz out in the opening tiebreaker. However, the second seed fought back to reclaim victory by wearing down his rival. During the last three sets, he won 49 out of 57 points behind his first serve and 15 out of 26 points behind his second serve.
“I just played my best match so far in the tournament. I’m just feeling great,” Alcaraz declared.
The 22-year-old Spaniard has now won 18 matches in a row at The All England Club. Although this year he admits to having a ‘different feeling’ when playing on the courts.
“It is a different kind of tennis this year at Wimbledon because I think it is a different feeling. For me, it’s a little bit slower, the balls are a little bit slower,” he explained.
Alcaraz is now on an eight-match winning streak against top 20 players at Tour-level, with his last loss being against Holger Rune in Barcelona. On the grass, he has won 33 out of 36 Tour-level matches played on the surface so far in his career.
As for Rublev, the Russian believes he is heading in the right direction when it comes to playing the best players in the world. However, he admits his mentality is still a problem.
“In the third set, I was maybe a bit more mentally down after those two sets. He was more pumped, more confident, and that’s it,” Rublev reflected during his press conference.
“The way I’m playing now, the way I’m feeling, the way I’m playing in practice, I haven’t felt this (good) for a while, I don’t remember myself like this. If I can keep it that way, for sure sooner or later something better will happen.”
The significance of mentality in the latest match was also highlighted by Alcaraz, who is the youngest player to reach three consecutive Wimbledon quarter-finals since Rafael Nadal.
“How you talk to yourself is really, really important throughout the whole match,” he said.
“I’m just trying to be as positive as I can. Sometimes it is really difficult. A lot of narratives, thoughts come to your mind most of the time because tennis matches can be really long.”
Hoping to stop Alcaraz from winning a third consecutive Wimbledon title in the quarter-finals will be Cameron Norrie, who ousted Nicolas Jarry in a five-set thriller. It will be a tough challenge for the Brit who has lost both of his matches against a top 10 player so far this season. On both occasions, he was beaten by Novak Djokovic.
“He’s playing at home, as well, so he’s going to use the crowd to his side,” Alcaraz said of Norrie.
“I have to be really strong mentally and focused to play good tennis if I want to beat him.”
Carlos Alcaraz is the youngest male player in the Open Era to reach 12 Men’s Singles quarter-finals at Grand Slam events.
