Carlos Alcaraz chooses the most special moment of his 2024

11/11/2024 07:30 AM

The best moment of Carlos Alcaraz's season was certainly between spring and summer. The Spanish champion became the youngest ever to win the French Open and Wimbledon Championships in the same year. The former world No. 1 defeated Alexander Zverev in the French Open final, before beating legend Novak Djokovic for the second time in a row in the Wimbledon final. The 23-year-old from Murcia could have made his 2024 even more special if he had also won the gold medal at the Paris Olympics, but his run ended in the final against Nole.

During a recent interview with ‘Vogue’, the 4-time Grand Slam champion selected his favorite moment of this year: “Roland Garros. In the months before the tournament, I got injured and couldn’t practice as much as I wanted. I went without any expectations—and ended up winning. It’s a real highlight.”

The current world No. 3 will make his ATP Finals debut against Casper Ruud today. Carlitos doesn't like very fast surfaces and has often struggled to play his best tennis on these courts, but he has been practicing hard in recent days and is ready for the last major event on the ATP calendar.

Alcaraz will have to face Ruud, Zverev and Rublev in his group, before playing the eventual semifinal on Saturday. The Spaniard wants to win the tournament and return to second position in the ATP ranking, a goal that would also be very important for the 2025 Australian Open. The 21-year-old from Murcia will also play the Davis Cup Finals in Malaga this year, in which he hopes to give his idol Rafael Nadal the last joy before retirement.

The former world No. 1 already knows what aspects of his game he will have to work on during the off-season. "There are specific things. Of course I would like to improve my serve more, obviously I have to do that, and other things that I prefer not to say now because my rivals will know them," Alcaraz stated. "I am going to sit down with Juan Carlos Ferrero and write down in a notebook, on paper, what things we are going to work on specifically during the preseason," he continued.

Carlitos has also had exceptional peaks in 2024, having won two Grand Slam titles and a Masters 1000, but he needs to improve his consistency to return to the top of the ATP ranking. Jannik Sinner has had a much higher regularity than the Spanish ace from January until today, a skill that has allowed him to expand his advantage in the ATP ranking. Although Alcaraz has defeated Sinner three times this season, Jannik's 2024 has still been superior as Carlos himself admitted.

The young Spaniard will try to improve even more next season, in which his first goal will be the Australian Open. The former world No. 1 didn’t shine in Australia up to this point of his career, achieving his best result in the quarterfinals in 2024. Carlitos was defeated by Sascha Zverev in Melbourne last January, playing one of the worst matches of his season.

His intention is to improve on this result in 2025 and - in case of victory at the AO next January - he already has a new tattoo in mind. “I have it in mind, I have in mind to tattoo the kangaroo,” said Alcaraz in an interview with the official ATP website. “I’m going to try to make a good vacation first. For me it is super important to be able to disconnect from tennis. And to return fresh to the pre-season so that it is brilliant, brutal, to arrive in Australia in the best possible way both tennis, physical and mental. The goal is to complete the ‘Grand Slam’ in Melbourne” – he added.

Alcaraz has a very brilliant game that is almost unstoppable on the best days. At the same time, the Spaniard struggles to find effective solutions when he does not feel in top form and several losses suffered this year prove this assumption. In addition, the world number 3 is much more efficient in Grand Slam tournaments than in all other tournaments. In the Majors, Alcaraz has more margin and more time to take the matches in his direction.

The 21-year-old from Murcia has achieved more than 85% of victories in Grand Slam tournaments this season, while in Masters 1000 tournaments he has won only 75% of the matches played. Carlos also has to limit the number of his injuries. This year, he suffered a forearm injury that limited him a lot during the spring forcing him to miss two Masters 1000 (Monte Carlo and Rome).