New York [US], August 26 : After a moment at the US Open last year that saw him emerge as the newest talent in men's tennis, World Number one Carlos Alcaraz admits that he is a "better player" now than he was a year ago and focusing on showing his best level.
The top seed and defending champion fired a warning to the rest of the field ahead of his opening match against Germany’s Dominik Koepfer. The hard-court major US Open will run from August 28 to September 10.
“I feel that I'm more mature on court. I feel that I'm a better player than I was a year ago. I got my first Grand Slam last year, but I feel like I'm more mature and I'm better," Alcaraz said in his pre-tournament press conference.
As defending champion, Alcaraz is ready to deal with raised expectations again.
“I try to do exactly the same thing that I did last year, trying to practise the same way that I'm going to play, and focus on that. I'm not focusing on the defending champion, the points, whatever. I'm just focused on showing my best level, trying to improve in every practice, and let's see how it is going to be in the tournament," the Spaniard said.
Alcaraz is seeded to meet sixth seed Jannik Sinner in the quarterfinals in what would be a rematch of their epic clash at last year’s event.
Jimmy Butler, an NBA player, is likely to support the Spaniard, who is also in the same half of the draw as 2021 winner Daniil Medvedev. Since they originally connected a year ago, Butler and Alcaraz have been good friends.
“I started to know him one year ago, to have a close relationship that is pretty good. He's a really huge fan of tennis. He trying to play. I think it's great for tennis to have Jimmy coming to tournaments and supporting us. It's great. Talking about me having him supporting me, a great athlete, NBA star, so it's for me almost crazy to have a good relationship with someone like Jimmy," Alcaraz said.
Novak Djokovic lost to the Spaniard in the Wimbledon championship match, but the Serb exacted retribution last week in Cincinnati. And if Alcaraz's remarks are any indication, the Cincinnati championship game is still vivid in his mind.
Prior to the US Open, Alcaraz told the media that Novak Djokovic's mental toughness was his most treasured quality.
"Probably his mental rock. I going to say he never give up. I mean, tough, tough moment, probably he shows that he's down and he's going to lose, and he's always given the chance to himself to keep playing and be able to win," Alcaraz said.
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