Carlos Alcaraz reveals ‘tips’ given to him by Andre Agassi
Carlos Alcaraz has detailed his conversations with eight-time singles Grand Slam champion Andre Agassi, who gave the world No.2 some ‘tips’ last week.
Alcaraz was playing an exhibition match against Rafael Nadal in Las Vegas, where Agassi was commentating for Netflix.
Aquí estamos en Las Vegas… nos encontramos con alguien @carlosalcaraz y yo ????@AndreAgassi ???????? pic.twitter.com/Pr7COCGM4i
— Rafa Nadal (@RafaelNadal) March 3, 2024
And the Spaniard revealed that he asked for some advice when meeting the former No.1, “I ask him for a few tips, a few things about how he was doing during his career, how he dealt with the pressure or how he stayed at the high rank or the high intensity during almost his whole career.
“He told me that ‘you have to give your 100% every day, or if you feel at your 80%, you have to give you 100% of that 80%. He told me the importance of every day. You cannot miss nothing in a day.”
Alcaraz is currently bidding to defend his title at Indian Wells, where Agassi was champion back in 2001, and has moved onto the last-16 after beating Felix Auger-Aliassime in straight sets.
The 20-year-old spoke about how he has turned recent disappointments into positivity, “I always try to think about the positive things, even if I lose, there are always positive things.”
He continued, “I try to think about it and really focus on the next practice to try to improve the mistakes that I made in those losses. It’s not time to give up or feel bad about something. I’m in a position that I dreamt of when I was a kid, and it’s time to keep improving, to keep growing. That’s my main mindset.”
Alcaraz will look to continue his title defence in California tomorrow, when he plays Hungarian Fabian Marozsan.
Marozsan beat Alcaraz in their only previous meeting that came in Rome last year, and the Wimbledon champion has revealed how he is hoping to avoid the same fate this time round.
“I try to beat him on the drop shots, I think he beat me in Rome with really beautiful drop shots. Really good tennis,” claimed Alcaraz. “I know his game, but he’s been playing good tennis lately, beating big guys. so I know it’s going to be a really tough match, but I’m ready for that.”
Inside the baseline…
As much as Carlos Alcaraz is one of the leading figures in the men’s game, he is still only 20-years-old and it is nice to see that he is still looking to learn from greats like Andre Agassi. Having faced an injury setback at the Rio Open, Alcaraz appears to be healed and should on paper be able to get revenge over Fabian Marozsan from Rome.
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