Javier Sanchez

Updated Tuesday,16January2024 - 13:33

  • The details of Carlos Alcaraz's "best pre-season": "We've seen him very high"

The immensity of a year is opening up, about 20 tournaments ahead, about 80 matches, and at this moment Carlos Alcaraz just needs confidence. The pre-season went very well, "the best of his career", according to his team, and now all that remains is to undo the uncertainty before the competition after two months without matches. The Australian Open is the ideal scenario. In Melbourne he never reached the quarter-finals and missed last year, so the pressure is as low as possible and the ATP ranking does not demand either. If he reaches the second week, any result can be read as positive, even more so if he acquires momentum, if his tennis flows, if his strokes begin to work.

That's why his debut on Tuesday against veteran Richard Gasquet was the best possible for Alcaraz. He won, of course, he won (7-6 (5), 6-1 and 6-2 in two hours and 21 minutes) and he did it with a little bit of everything: suffering, enjoyment, learning, control. Perfect.

It was a gift from the Grand Slam pre-draw. More demanding opponents will come, but for the debut Gasquet was ideal for the Spaniard, a pleasant adversary. At 37 years of age, the Frenchman barely holds on on to the circuit, with extraordinary technique and limited physique. He still plays in some ATP 500 and ATP 250 titles, but in the last five majors he has played he has fallen in the first round, for example. In front of him, knowing that he would possibly win by endurance, Alcaraz could focus on positioning himself on the Australian court, on finding his game, on getting into a rhythm. And he did that in the first set, the only competitive period of the match.

In the first hour, with Gasquet still in one piece, with his one-handed backhand, with his repertoire of shots, Alcaraz accused the lack of previous tournaments and, at the same time, exhibited calm. Faced with the multitude of unused break points -up to nine-, one of his pending tasks from last season, he was effective with his serve and got to work. Sweats in the tiebreak. A few delicate points. And that's it. As soon as he resolved, the contest was over. The second and third sets were exhibition for Alcaraz, who was able to enjoy himself and practice everything he had rehearsed in preseason. If anything, he struggled to close out the victory, as he needed four match points and a final game of 10 minutes.