Carlos Alcaraz ‘hopeful’ of getting chance to end Novak Djokovic Australia dominance

Carlos Alcaraz says he doesn’t want to avoid Novak Djokovic at the Australian Open – he wants to play him and beat him.

Djokovic has an imperious record in Australia, winning ten titles including the last four that he has played.

That means he goes to Melbourne riding an incredible winning streak there and building a record comparable to Rafael Nadal’s at Roland Garros.

However, Djokovic also had a similar record at Wimbledon until last year when Alcaraz beat him in a brilliant final, so he knows he is capable of going toe-to-toe with Djokovic even on his favourite courts.

Asked if the prospect of beating Novak Djokovic in Australia was helpful to him, Alcaraz said: “Yeah, it’s an extra motivation for me.

“I’m an ambitious guy. I always want to play against the best players in the world to see what is my level.

“Obviously it’s a good test, playing against him in the places or in the tournament that he’s almost unbeaten.

“I’m looking to reach the final and hopefully play a final against him. It would be great obviously. But, yeah, knowing those stats, it’s an extra motivation, for sure.”

Carlos Alcaraz expecting an ‘exciting’ 2024

Carlos Alcaraz is one of the players who has decided to go into the Australian Open without any warm-up tournaments.

That means that his first round match will be the first time he has played competitively since the ATP Finals in November.

However, he says he does not expect that to be any kind of an issue at all. In fact, he’s expecting big things from himself this year.

“Well, yeah, I’m still exciting about this year,” he said. “I hope it’s going to be as good as the 2023.

“Yeah, [I] prepared really, really well at the start. We are going to start with this tournament. I think I did a good preparation coming to this year.

“I think right now we have to improve with the things that I didn’t do well last year, for example, and try to be better with my team and myself obviously. I think this year, it’s going to be a good one.”

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