In the latest Players’ Voice first-person essay, Carlos Alcaraz provides Eurosport with insight into his mindset coming back from injury and his big ambitions in the sport. Below is an excerpt, reproduced with permission from Eurosport.
The injury has been a learning process. I had to be calm and it has helped me to mature a lot off the court. These were not easy days for me, they were quite hard. I had to stay focused and train to come back stronger. During my recovery, as I have done on several occasions, I worked a lot with my psychologist. She helps me a lot both on and off the court. The off-court side is almost more important, as you spend most of your time there.
I thought a lot about Nadal when I was recovering from my injury. Often when the best players have been out for a long time, they win their first tournament back. I wanted to be one of those players. Those examples of successful returns have motivated me – like what Rafa did at the 2022 Australian Open, and when Djokovic has returned from absences, he has won important tournaments. These examples are inspirations to think, 'let's get back training' because I also want to come back the best I can to try to win…
… In Miami, I’m going to have to start defending a lot of points. I think about that subconsciously because you want to be at the top of the rankings. But together with my team, we have always said that the important thing is the race to the Nitto ATP Finals. If you have a good year in the race, you will finish high in the rankings. I don't worry too much about defending points, I just think about enjoying the tournament I am playing, and trying to do the best I can…
…I want to beat Nadal and Djokovic, but I am not here to take any Grand Slams away from them or prevent either of them from being the best of all time. I am just trying to write my own history.
I want to win Slams. I am ambitious and my goals are big, I'm not going to lie. My dream is to be one of the best in history, to try to get somehow close to them. I know it will be very complicated - maybe even impossible - but in this world you have to think big and dream big. In the end, that is my dream today.