Carlos Alcaraz reacts to ‘legend’ Andy Murray’s ‘pretty cool’ comments about him
Carlos Alcaraz kicked off his bid for a Sunshine Double with another entertaining display at the Miami Open and his performance even put a smile on the face of the great Andy Murray.
Fresh from successfully defending his Indian Wells Open trophy, Alcaraz is looking to become only the eighth men’s player to back up the Indian Wells title with the Miami Open title. If he does pull off the feat then he will be the first men’s player since Roger Federer in 2017 to win the Sunshine Double.
The world No 2 started his campaign in emphatic fashion as he defeated birthday boy Roberto Carballes Baena, who turned 31 on Saturday, 6-2, 6-1 in the third round.
Despite the one-sided scoreline, it was a typically high-octane performance from Alcaraz and he got many of the spectators off their seats with some of his shot-making abilities.
Former world No 1 Murray is one of those who enjoy watching Alcaraz play as he made it clear in the past that he is a big fan of the 20-year-old.
Shortly after he claimed an excellent 7-6 (7-0), 6-3 win over Tomas Etcheverry, Murray tuned in for the Alcaraz match and wrote on X: “Watching Alcaraz play tennis makes me smile.”
And Alcaraz replied: “Andy!! 🙏🏻 THANKS MAN! 😍”
But the Spaniard also expanded later during an interview when asked about the three-time Grand Slam winner’s comment.
“That’s pretty cool for a legend like Andy to say something like this that he enjoys a lot watching my matches,” he said. “It’s crazy for me. He has seen a lot of tennis during his career, a lot of matches, a lot of players.”
As for the match itself, despite the dropping only three games Alcaraz admitted it was not easy playing in the hot and humid conditions.
“It wasn’t easy, because of the result it may seem that way, but I had to adapt to the conditions, which were very hard for me physically,” he explained.
“The humidity is something that is difficult to deal with. I am very happy with my performance, with the way I hit the ball, with how I adapted my game to those conditions because the ball goes in a different way than Indian Wells.
“I had to see how and I did it very well.”
Up next is the tricky Gael Monfils after the Frenchman overcame Jordan Thompson 6-7 (3-7), 6-1, 6-2.
Alcaraz currently finds himself at 920 points behind Novak Djokovic in the ATP Rankings, but a title run at the Miami Open will see him reduce the deficit to 280 points.
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