London [UK], July 13 : Following his win over Holger Rune in the Wimbledon quarterfinals, young Spanish sensation Carlos Alcaraz lauded Daniil Medvedev, his semifinal opponent, calling him a "complete player" and an "octopus".
Alcaraz stormed to his first-ever semifinal at the ongoing Wimbledon championships after he defeated Holger Rune in an entertaining semifinal match on Wednesday. The clash between two 20-year-old stars ended in a 7-6(3), 6-4, 6-4 victory for Alcaraz.
Following his US Open title win last year, Alcaraz is pursuing his second Grand Slam title and he will be aiming to keep hopes for it alive when against Medvedev in semis. The Spaniard lost to Medvedev back in 2021 at Wimbledon when he was a world number 75 player in ATP Rankings. But since then, Alcaraz has reached the top position and clinched 11 tour-level championships. The 20-year-old is in his third grand slam semifinal and a maiden semifinal in London. He aims to learn from their previous match.
"He (Medvedev) is playing great here on grass," Alcaraz said as quoted by ATP.
"He has had a great, great year as well. I lost the first match we played here on grass. So I have to learn about it…. He is a really complete player. I think Rublev said a few times, he is an octopus. He is an amazing athlete. But I am going to enjoy the semi-final. I think I am playing great, a lot of confidence right now, so it is going to be a really good match I think," Alcaraz added.
The youngster also said that it was a dream come true to play a semifinal in London.
"It is a dream for me to be able to play semi-final here at Wimbledon,” Alcaraz said after his straight-sets triumph.
"I remember the first time that I came here, it was an unbelievable feeling to be able to play here. Right now it is totally different for me. I cannot believe that I am in this position right now in just a short period. It is something crazy for me," he continued.
Alcaraz said that he was really nervous in the first set but winning it helped him mentally and he let out a huge scream after clinching it.
"The first set, it was really tough for me. A lot of nerves," Alcaraz said.
"I could not control it at all. I was able to win the first set [and] that was key to turn around a little bit my emotions."
"It helped me a lot that huge scream after the first set to put out all the nerves and start to enjoy the moment, to enjoy the match. Smiling for me, as I said a few times, is the key to everything," he concluded.
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