De la tristesse, mais ce sourire qu'il ne quitte presque jamais. A 21 ans, Carlos Alcaraz, qui compte déjà quatre titres du Grand Chelem à son palmarès, s'est incliné au terme d'un combat sans merci face à Novak Djokovic. Le Serbe, 37 ans, a su élever son niveau de jeu dans les moments clés de ce combat acharné, où deux tie-breaks ont décidé du sort de la rencontre. Un match remporté 7-6(3), 7-6(2) par celui qui détient, sans contestation possible, le plus beau palmarès du tennis moderne. En conférence de presse d'après-match, il a - entre autres - expliqué sa tristesse sur le court, à la fin de la rencontre, par l'attente des Espagnols.
Photo : @ATPTour / @ITFTennis
Photo : @ATPTour / @ITFTennis
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SportTranscription
00:00Obviously, I have to start saying that I think my level was really high. I'm really happy
00:13about my performance today. I'll probably be a little bit disappointed about not playing
00:21my best tennis in some situations. In the difficult situations, the Tigers for example,
00:29he increased his level at the top and I couldn't do it. So probably a bit sad about thinking
00:39in those moments, but I have to see everything in a different way and a different perspective.
00:48So I think I did a really great tournament. I think I did a really great match. I'm really
00:58proud about myself to be in this position, about the level that I played. Obviously,
01:03in front of me I had a really angry Novak, an impressive player today. I think his level
01:14was really, really high as well. He didn't let me take the chances, so I have to give
01:23credit to him as well. As I said, I'm really proud. I'm leaving the court and leaving the
01:30tournament with a head really, really high, knowing that I gave everything on the court.
01:37I gave everything that I could on court today. I will back stronger and I have to learn from
01:45these situations.
01:53No, remain in English.
02:02Carlos, I am from Bangladesh. Congratulations for your silver medal. So your partner in
02:08doubles was Mr. Nadal and he is one of the best. So you and Nadal didn't qualify for
02:17the arm. Do you want to dedicate the silver medal to him or dedicate it to anyone?
02:22Do you want to dedicate the silver medal to anyone, especially Mr. Nadal?
02:29Well, I think this silver medal is to all the Spanish people, to my country, to Spain,
02:36to everyone who was supporting me at home, to everyone who came here to support me during
02:46the whole tournament in today's match, to my family, to my team and to myself as well.
02:55Obviously, it's something that I wanted since I started playing tennis, to bring a medal,
03:03to get an Olympic medal. It was a goal at the beginning of the year, at the beginning
03:11of the tournament. So, yeah, this medal is for Spain. So I think to all the Spanish people.
03:22Hi Carlos, Eleanor Crooks from Press Association. How different did it feel playing for an Olympic
03:29gold medal compared to playing for a Grand Slam title?
03:33Well, it feels a little bit different. I mean, I was playing for the gold medal, I was playing
03:45for Spain, but it is not the same. I have played four Grand Slam finals and in the difficult
04:02moments, in the tough situations, I increased my level, I put a really great tennis on it.
04:10Today, probably I felt more pressure. I don't know, maybe other players are not playing
04:19in the same way or not feeling the pressure about playing for his flag, for his country,
04:24probably myself. I felt the pressure in those situations that I couldn't play my best tennis.
04:34So I could feel the difference about playing Grand Slams and playing a final of the Olympic
04:42Games. So, you know, I'm playing four Grand Slams every year and the Olympic Games is
04:52one every four years, so probably you could feel the pressure playing on it. So, yeah,
04:58as I said, I could feel it.
05:02Hi Carlos and the lads. Just curious how much all these matches with Novak, how will they
05:09make you a better player? And also, just in general, how will you remember this week at
05:14the Olympics, both in terms of what you've achieved yourself, with Raphael and millions
05:19of pictures you've taken?
05:22Well, first thing is I'm going to learn from these situations. The close match that I'm
05:31playing and at the end I lost it. All the tournaments that I'm playing, all the matches
05:41in these situations, I'm going to learn from them.
05:46I remember last year in this year, 2023, I said that I'm going to learn from the moment
05:56that I lost against Novak and I did. After that, I'm going to say the same. I'm going
06:02to learn from this moment to be a better player, not going to make the same mistakes as I did
06:08today. I got a lot of experience, so I think after that I'm going to be a better player.
06:16I'm going to be more mature off the court as well. Everything that I'm living, I'm
06:22going to try to be better on it. Obviously, this week, this tournament, it has been really
06:29special for me. I'm going to take it for the rest of my life, for the rest of my career
06:34for sure. Playing with Rafa, having those feelings, being at the same side of the net
06:42with Rafa, getting my first Olympic medal, hopefully not the last one. It has been two
06:52great weeks, but it has been a special one.
06:56Hi Carlos, Howard Fendrich with EAP. I want to ask you two things. One, I think I heard
07:07you say that Novak seemed hungry out there. I'm just wondering, were there ways in which
07:14that was obvious to you or could you see things that made it clear to you how important it
07:22was to him to win this gold finally? Anything maybe different about him than when he played
07:29No. 4 or even just a few weeks ago in Wimbledon? I also wanted to ask you about your emotions
07:35after the match. You were very upset. Can you remember the last time you felt that sad
07:42after a tennis match?
07:45Well, yeah. I've heard many, many times that Novak wanted to win the gold medal. Every
08:00Olympic Games that he had played, at the end he said, I'm working and I really want you
08:13to win the gold medal. I knew that before the match. During the match, as I said, in
08:22the close moments, in the difficult situations, in the tie-breaks, he played an impressive
08:29game. That's why I saw that he's angry for the gold medal. He was going to go for it
08:41and that's it. That's why I saw something that he was angry at the match. He really
08:51wanted to get that medal. Yeah, as I said, he was better. He was better in those situations
09:02and he deserved to get the win.
09:06And the other one? How was it?
09:08How emotional were you after this?
09:12No, no, but it was the same question. Don't worry.
09:16Yeah, well, obviously, I thought that I let all the Spanish people down a little bit in
09:28some way. I know that a lot of or the most Spanish people were worrying for my gold medal
09:40and myself as well. I worked for it, I went for it and it couldn't happen. So that's why
09:50I got emotional at the end because I couldn't make all the Spanish people proud. Thinking
10:05about that moment, it was really close at the end of the match. I couldn't think things
10:13clearly and that's why I got emotional at the end. But right now, thinking more relaxed,
10:23I think I made them believe in a certain way and I'm proud about the way that I represented
10:35my flag.
10:36Hi Carlos, this is Ronnie from Bangladesh. This is a tough match today, but you're still
10:43very young, you have a good career ahead and surely you have your times at the Olympics
10:48properly. But for Nobat, probably it was his last time, his last shot at the Olympics.
10:54So what do you want to say about him and do you feel that his experience at the pre-season
11:00moment is actually the difference at the end?
11:02Sorry?
11:03His experience at the pre-season moment, the crucial moment, made the difference at the end?
11:08Yeah. Matches like this one, it was really close, 7-6, 7-6, two try-breaks. He was in
11:19the deciding points, in the deciding moments that makes the difference. As I said, in those
11:28moments he increased his tennis, he played great points, great shots that I couldn't
11:34get him in trouble. As I said, he deserved it. So I have to learn from his mistakes,
11:45the way that I played, some points or some moments, the crucial moments, he was better.
11:56Last question in English please.
11:58Hi Carlos, I know that this was a bit of a disappointment for you but being the youngest
12:04man to have ever contested an Olympic gold medal match, you have also come away with
12:09a silver medal in your first Olympic Games. Is there a sense of how much that is an achievement
12:14for you at this point in your career and does it give you confidence going into the next
12:17Olympics that you can go on and do even better?
12:20Well, obviously right now I'm really happy. I'm really happy about getting my first Olympic
12:28medal, about giving myself the chance to fight for the gold medal, bringing a silver medal
12:37to home. It's a special moment of my life, for my family as well, for my team.
12:50Spain in general, I think most of them watched the match and were waiting for more but I
12:57think they were happy that I have brought a medal to my country, to Spain.
13:05As I said, these kind of moments I'm going to learn from them to be a better player so
13:10probably it's going to be a really important moment of my career just to get more experience,
13:15to be better and in the rest of the season, the rest of the tournaments I'm going to be
13:19better and I'm going to be a better version of myself in the next tournaments.