Carlos Alcaraz on his Grand Slam total target as he compares Novak Djokovic to a superhero
Carlos Alcaraz was in a joyous mood after he retained his Wimbledon with a thrilling win against Novak Djokovic in the final – and he was in a revealing mood in his post-match press conference.
Alcaraz turned in the best performance of his career to hand Djokovic his most convincing defeat on Wimbledon’s Centre Court and he gave his thoughts on how many Grand Slams he will win in his career after claiming his fourth at the age of just 21.
His 6-2 6-2 7-6(4) win against Djokovic was so convincing that many are now predicting the Spaniard will take his Grand Slam haul into double-figures and he may even set his sights on catching Djokovic’s all-time record of 24 Grand Slam titles.
“I don’t know what is my limit. I don’t want to think about it,” said Alcaraz.
“I just want to keep enjoying my moment, just to keep dreaming. So let’s see if at the end of my career, it’s going to be 25, 30, 15, four. I don’t know. All I want to say is I want to keep enjoy, and let’s see what the future brings for me.
“I’m really happy with the work that I’m doing with my team. I’m really proud of myself, all the things that I’m doing great. I’m really proud of the people around my team.
“Everything we have done already has been unbelievable, an amazing journey so far. As I said, I really want to keep going, to keep improving, to keep growing up, try to keep winning. That’s all that matters to me right now.
“Obviously I’ve seen and I’ve heard all the stats that I am the youngest to win at Roland Garros and Wimbledon the same year, to win whatever. I honestly try not to think about it too much. It’s a really great start to my career, but I have to keep going.
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“I have to keep building my path. At the end of my career, I want to sit at the same table as the big guys. That’s my main goal. That’s my dream right now.
“It doesn’t matter if I already won four Grand Slams at the age of 21. I really want to keep going. I will try to keep winning and end my career with a lot of them.”
At 21 years and 70 days old, Alcaraz (21y 70d), Alcaraz became the third-youngest player in the Open Era to win the Men’s Singles title at Wimbledon in back-to-back editions, after Boris Becker (18y 227d, 1985-86) and Bjorn Borg (21y 26d, 1976-77).
Only Rod Laver (19) has registered more wins from his first 20 matches in Men’s Singles at Wimbledon than Alcaraz (18/20) during the Open Era and he admitted this performance was one of his best yet.
“It was a great match for me,” he added. “Obviously Novak didn’t play his best the first two sets, a lot of mistakes.
“I made the most of that. Yeah, it is a great feeling even thinking about being French Open winner and Wimbledon champion in the same year, that few players done it before.
“It’s unbelievable. I try to realize that I won Wimbledon twice and try to feel that it was the same feeling as last year.’
He also paid tribute to Djokovic as he found a comical way to describe his beaten rival.
“I’m still believing that Novak is Superman because of what he did this tournament with surgery just a few weeks before the tournament began. It is amazing,” he added.
“Honestly, as I said on court, I was talking to my team that the work that Novak has done has been unbelievable. He put himself the chance to be able to play the tournament and making the final, it’s something out of this world for me. I beat him today, but for me Novak is still being like a Superman.”
