“My worst mistake was letting Djokovic enter the match again”

The Spanish tennis player Carlos Alcaraz assured that his “worst mistake” in the quarter-final match played this Tuesday at the Australian Open against the Serbian Novak Djokovic was letting his rival enter the match “again”, after requesting medical assistance in the first set.

“I felt like I was controlling the game and I let him get into the game again. That was the worst mistake I made today. In the second half, I had to play a little better, to push him to the limit and I didn’t. After That, I think he started to feel better. He was playing at an incredible level, obviously when Novak is at this level, it is very difficult. I had my opportunities,” said the Murcian tennis player in the press conference after the match.

Alcaraz regretted that “most of the crucial points” fell on the Serbian side, although he confessed that he learned that he must “save his energy.” “There have been some moments, some games in which I didn’t save energy playing with the crowd, shouting ‘let’s go’ every time. I learned to save energy during the games, especially in these games, which are very physically demanding,” he said.

The Murcian tennis player pointed out that “someone who is thinking about retiring if he had lost the second set would not have played the way he played afterwards”, in reference to the discomfort that the Serbian suffered in the first set. “I’m not going to go into details, but I think that even if I had lost the second set, I would have fought and I would have had to sweat to have won,” he said.

“In the third and fourth set I didn’t see anything bad about him. I’m not saying he put on a show, but it’s obvious and everyone saw it. He was fighting in the second set and then in the third and fourth set I saw that he was very good. “Someone who is physically suffering a little, is not playing at the same level. I think he made great shots. After that it was very difficult to beat him,” he said.

Alcaraz stated that the duels against Djokovic are “great matches”, since they take the match “to the limit.” “From these matches, I have a lot of experience on how to deal with everything. I’m not going to hide. I’ve done great things in tennis, but playing against one of the best tennis players in the history of the sport helped me a lot in the future to be better “I am happy to be able to live this experience,” he reflected.

The Murcian tennis player does not dare to predict who is the favorite to win the first ‘Grand Slam’ of the season. “I don’t know. Sasha (Zverev), Djokovic, Jannik (Sinner), for me they are the favorites, but I can’t say one,” he confessed.

Finally, Alcaraz confirmed that the next thing will be Rotterdam (Netherlands), Doha (Qatar), Indian Wells (USA), Miami (USA) which “are nice tours.” “Right now I want to get home, disconnect a little, rest, go back to training and to the courts to improve what I want to improve, to be better and then what’s next,” he concluded.