Although the French Open is still a month away, Carlos Alcaraz has already turned his attention to Wimbledon – the third Grand Slam of the year. The world No 2 has made it no secret that he wants to win Roland Garros but he is also thinking about Wimbledon, which has become Novak Djokovic’s hunting ground in recent years. And Alcaraz is using a boxing analogy to inspire him to achieve success at SW19.
Alcaraz has already racked up an impressive list of achievements in his young tennis career. Last September, he became the first teenage Grand Slam champion since Rafael Nadal in 2005 and the ATP’s youngest-ever world No 1 after winning the US Open.
And he doesn’t want to stop there, as he is already thinking about the next two Majors in the calendar. The 19-year-old has already said it is a “very, very good goal” to win the French Open and is now looking ahead to Wimbledon, where he is hoping to use a boxing mentality to win the grass-court Grand Slam.
“Roland Garros has always been the Grand Slam for the Spanish and I would love to win it, but I would be especially excited to win Wimbledon,” the nine-time title winner told Marca, speaking ahead of the Madrid Open where he is the defending champion.
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Alcaraz – who reached the fourth round of Wimbledon last year – thought that he had the game to succeed on grass, but was using a new boxing analogy to help him. “My style of play can go quite well on grass because I am aggressive, I go to the net, I hit hard, and that’s what you have to do on grass,” he explained.
“I was once told that grass is like a boxing match, that you have to try to hit first so they don’t hit you, and that’s a good comparison.” If he wants to win Wimbledon, the Spaniard will likely have to get past Djokovic – who has won the last four editions of the tournament.
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The world No 1 hasn’t lost a match at the All England Club since 2017 when he withdrew injured and gave Tomas Berdych a walkover. His last defeat in a completed match came in 2016 when he lost to Sam Querrey in the third round.
As for Alcaraz, the teenager has played Wimbledon just twice and has never played a tour-level event on the grass. He lost to Jannik Sinner last summer, with the Italian going on to take a two-set lead over Djokovic in the next round before falling in five.
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