Carlos Alcaraz begins quest to regain No 1 in Buenos Aires
Carlos Alcaraz has touched down in Buenos Aires ahead of his 2023 season debut at the Argentina Open next week.
Alcaraz believes that he can go all the way at the Argentina Open despite being on the shelf since tearing an oblique during the Paris Masters.
The former rankings king lost his top spot when Novak Djokovic won the Australian Open.
Alcaraz is hoping to get back up to speed with the elite players of the ATP Tour.
“It’ll be my first tournament since I picked up the injury in Paris,” said the Spaniard.
“It’s been four months since then. But I always arrive thinking about winning and wanting to win, even though it won’t be easy after such a long time without competing.”
Alcaraz arrived in Argentina early in order to get a few extra practices in as he has to face a group of players who have all been active for around six weeks.
“That’s why I’ve come a few days early, to train with really good players, gradually improve and to be able to start the tournament as well as possible,” he explained.
Alcaraz hopes that bringing members of his family along with him on the trip to Argentina will help his tournament performance.
“They’re here and I also count my team as family: Juanjo [Moreno], my physio, Albert Molina and Toni [Antonio Martínez Cascales],” he said.
“I have a great time with them. At the end of the day, the time on court is two or three hours a day. The rest of the time you have to do things you enjoy, that make you feel good so that you can do as well as possible in the tournament. They come to support me, but also to bring that part of ‘home’, which is also very important.”
Alcaraz admits that he surprised himself with his incredible 2022 season.
“It was a very good year,” he said.
“I achieved my dream, my goal, very quickly. Practically in just a year. I dealt with it as naturally as possible. After becoming No. 1 I had to set new goals, new things for the long term, to continue to enjoy myself, continue to improve, because I’m very young and I have a lot of things to improve, despite being the No. 1. You have to keep training and looking forward.”
Alcaraz has isolated mental and physical fitness as the areas of his game he wants to improve.
“I think I can improve everything in terms of my game, fitness and mentality,” he said.
“Little by little, my team will take those small steps to get even better.
“I’m certain that I need to continue to improve,” he insisted.
“Achieving my dream very quickly caught me by surprise, so to speak. Now I’m used to it, I have a goal, I know where I want to get to, what I want to be, and that is the most important thing.”
Alcaraz enjoys a bye into the second round as the top seed at the Argentina Open and will kick off his campaign against either Fabio Fognini or Laslo Djere.
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