Carlos Alcaraz reveals he would choose ‘dream’ Olympic title over Grand Slam in 2024
Carlos Alcaraz is gearing up to play his first tournament since the Australian Open this week, with the Spaniard revealing some of his goals for the season.
Alcaraz is bidding to defend his title on the clay courts of Buenos Aires this week, following the world No.2’s Australian Open quarter-final defeat to Alexander Zverev.
And in his pre-tournament press conference, the Wimbledon champion was asked about whether he would prefer to win the title at the Paris Olympics or add another Grand Slam to his trophy cabinet this year, “I would say the Olympic title.
“For me, it is a dream to bring a medal to my country, to Spain, and winning gold is one of the greatest things that can happen to you in the world of sport in general. This year, if you gave me a choice, I would say that I will keep the Olympic gold… although I would like to win both.”
Alcaraz continued to speak about some of his other dreams, including being alongside the likes of Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer in the history books, “I am a boy who dreams big. I am very ambitious and I target the best in the world and the best in history.
“That’s what motivates me to give my 100% day to day and to go to the tournaments to be able to win them. I’m a very competitive, very ambitious guy. I always want to win everything, it is what drives me to continue training at my highest level, to continue going to the tournaments with a lot of desire to get more titles.”
He added, “Seeing Djokovic up there, the players who are winning titles now, is something that motivates me to be at the same level as them. Also speaking of the ‘Big Three’, it motivates me to get closer to them.”
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— Carlos Alcaraz (@carlosalcaraz) February 12, 2024
The 20-year-old went onto list the aforementioned Djokovic and Australian Open champion Jannik Sinner as his main rivals, “I think Djokovic and Sinner are the rivals to beat.
“There is no doubt, both for me and for everyone. Zverev also has the winning head-to-head against me, he is a rival that I have very much in mind, but I do think that Djokovic and Sinner are at the top right now.”
Alcaraz will return to the match court later this week against either Juan Pablo Varillas or Camilo Ugo Carabelli, after receiving a bye to the second round as the top seed.
Inside the baseline…
Carlos Alcaraz has every possibility of being one of the greats in the sport, and he has already put his name in the history books after becoming the youngest world No.1 at the 2022 US Open. It is understandable as to why the Olympics are so important to him, considering they only come around every four years, compared to four Grand Slams a year. Paris will be even more special to Alcaraz, considering it will be his first ever Olympic Games and the tennis will be held on the historic grounds of Roland Garros.
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