‘You learn a lot from defeats’ – Monte Carlo the catalyst for success says Carlos Alcaraz
Spanish tennis star Carlos Alcaraz has opened up about his fantastic start to the year on clay stating that his defeat in Monte Carlo was a key turning point in his clay court season.
The 19-year-old Spaniard has had a red-hot start to the year as he claimed record-breaking title wins at both the Rio Open and the Miami Masters earlier this year.
However it seems to be on clay where Alcaraz is even more dominant.
The man from Murcia earned his 10th consecutive win to capture his second career Masters 1000 title at the Madrid Open on Sunday.
The 19-year-old overcame top four stars Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Alexander Zverev en route to his fifth career title as he became the first man to ever defeat Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal back-to-back at the same tournament on clay.
His win in the Spanish capital meant that Alcaraz has now won two consecutive tour-level tournaments for the first time in his career as a week prior to his success in Madrid, he also claimed his first tour-level clay court title at the Barcelona Open.
However, at the start of the clay court swing Carlos Alcaraz did face questions following his opening-round defeat at the Monte Carlo Masters last month.
Alcaraz, who lost to fellow 2021 ATP next-gen finalist Sebastian Korda in his opening match in Monte Carlo, has now revealed that the defeat has enabled him to raise his game to a higher level and as a result has contributed to the title wins in Barcelona and Madrid.
In a recent interview, the teen sensation, who has not lost since Monte Carlo, told reporters, “I consider myself a player that’s playing very well. As the numbers speak by themselves, I think that I’m doing it quite well on clay right now.
“As I said in Monte-Carlo, you learn a lot from defeats. I think this is a clear example. I lost in the first round of Monte Carlo, and I learned from that defeat and I started to train for Barcelona and Madrid. I consider that I am playing very, very well, and I think that I am a tough opponent for the other players.”
However, despite his success, the young Spaniard stated he is still aiming to continuously improve.
“I think that I have to improve everything still. I have always said that you can improve everything. You never reach a limit.
“Look at Rafa, Djokovic, [Roger] Federer, all of them improve and they have things to improve. That’s why they are so good, and that’s why they are so much [of the] time up there, because they don’t stop. They keep on working and improving.
“That’s what I want to do. I want to keep on progressing. I have really good shots. I don’t say that I don’t have them, but I know that I can improve them and they can be even better.”
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