Rafa Nadal was full of praise for Carlos Alcaraz after beating the 18-year-old tennis player in a match that is already the history of Spanish tennis. The Balearic made it clear at a press conference that he has no doubts that the tennis player from El Palmar will be a great champion in the future.
Alcaraz and similarities with Nadal
“The amount of passion and determination he has to become a great champion. Yes, that’s what I see in him. It seems that he is humble enough to work hard and understand that us tennis players, if we want to be great champions, the only way is to keep improving throughout our careers. That’s what I tried. I really think he is doing that. I have no doubt that it will be great. It already is, by the way.”
Discomfort during the game
“I honestly felt something here in my chest. I think it’s nothing important. Probably due to the wind, you need to change movement, adjust. I probably made some bad moves. Honestly, I don’t like to call the physio before the other serves. I started to feel a lot of pain and tried to go as fast as possible. I didn’t take the full time. Especially playing against Carlos, who is Spanish, and I have a good relationship with him. I just tried to be as fair as possible.”
The best match of the tournament
“It was an entertaining game. I think it was my best match so far in the tournament in terms of level. The only thing is that when the wind came, it was almost unplayable. But before the wind, I think I had a great game. Then in the third I had a great determination against a very difficult player to face. He has many amazing things. He is super young. It is an important victory for me. To be in the final here again in Indian Wells means a lot. I’m very happy”.
Wind
«The problem in tennis is that we do not have a regulation for this. There are no rules for the wind, none that says that with certain miles per hour the game must be suspended. Sometimes I enjoy playing in the wind because it’s a challenge, like when I play golf, looking for solutions all the time,” he recalled. But it wasn’t just the wind, I started to feel the sand in my eyes and it hurt a little (…) For some situations like a sandstorm maybe we could add it to the rule book ».
Nerves
“I wasn’t more nervous because he was a young player. I treated him like one of the top eight.”
