Un faux-pas était interdit malgré un tirage légèrement piégeux. Carlos Alcaraz n'a pas fait de détail pour son entrée en lice à Melbourne. Sa toute première sortie de l'année, après quatre longues semaines de préparation. Un succès écrasant face au 77e mondial Alexander Shevchenko (6-1, 7-5, 6-1), et direction le deuxième tour où l'attendait le Japonais Yoshihito Nishioka (65e). L'Espagnol était satisfait de son niveau de jeu en conférence de presse, mais "veut faire mieux"..
Photo : @AustralianOpen
Photo : @AustralianOpen
Catégorie
🥇
SportTranscription
00:00I think I played a great level. Honestly, in the first month of the season you never
00:09know how it was going to be. I had the confidence to think it was going to be good, but you
00:16never know. So I'm just really, really happy with the level that I played, with everything
00:21I've done today, but I really want to be better in the next round.
00:28Carlos, obviously you started really strongly today and then there was a little period where
00:35things didn't go your way. I'm curious, when you find yourself in those situations
00:40where things have gone from really good to not so good, what do you do and what do you
00:45think about to get things going back your way again?
00:48Well, it's something that I'm working on. When everything is going well, you're happy,
00:55so everything is in the right way. So I won't turn into the bad way again.
01:05So it feels like I'm thinking just to be good again. I knew that I had to be focused. I
01:20knew that I had to be there and a good drill and a good level is going to be good again.
01:28So it's something that's in my mind. Not being mad, just trying to recover and do a good
01:39drill again. So that's what I try in the second set.
01:43As I said, it's the first match of the season. I think what happened was normal, to lose
01:48the focus a little bit. I just want to try not to happen again in the next round. I'm
01:55just trying to refocus my game again.
01:59Carlos, good night. As you said, first match of the season. You started also in 2024 in
02:08Australia. Of course, in 2023 you didn't come. Why did you decide to start here in Australia,
02:14play in a Grand Slam and not have any other tournament in the previous? Why do you think
02:19other players, maybe like Yannick or Daniel, prefer the same as you to start here in Melbourne?
02:26I don't know why it was for them, but for me, I prefer to do a good pre-season, a little
02:37bit longer and that's it. So I prefer to instead of having two weeks of pre-season,
02:44having four. So we don't have too much period in December to have a long pre-season and
02:51start a tournament at 2.50 in the United Cup. So you have to think what's better for you.
02:59If I stay at home or stay doing the pre-season instead of playing any tournament or not doing
03:07the pre-season, I'm playing some matches before the Grand Slam. So I decided not to
03:13come. I think I'm in an age that I need weeks of practice. I need long pre-seasons just
03:24to be ready and then the season is going to be long. So you have to be in a good shape.
03:29So that's why I decided not to play any tournament before the Grand Slam and coming straight
03:36here.
03:37What do you make of your next opponent, Nishioka?
03:45Well I know Nishioka is a tough player. So I just try to play a good tennis. I will try
03:55to do the things that I'm improving. Try to make him more comfortable and get him more
04:04confident. It will be a really good match. So I'll be ready. I'll be focused to play
04:14my own tennis, my game and that's it.
04:20You spoke about the other day your serve and how you're looking to improve that. How did
04:25that feel tonight? What did you think of how things were going on the serving front?
04:31I struggled a little bit. It's something that I'm still thinking about. A lot of things
04:39come to my mind when I'm going to serve. So I have to get it natural or as natural as
04:45I can. So I just struggled with the percentage of the first serve. That's something that
04:53I want to get higher. Hopefully in the next days it's going to be better. I think it's
05:03normal. The new thing is tough to feel natural on it. So I think in the next few days it's
05:13going to be better.
05:15For more information visit www.FEMA.gov