Carlos Alcaraz calls his battle with Novak Djokovic for the world No.1 spot in males’s tennis “a beautiful fight”.
But the smiling younger Spaniard recognises it is a powerful, quicksilver Australian who may present the knockout blow for his quick hopes of ousting Djokovic from high spot, when he faces Alex de Minaur at Queen’s Club in London on Sunday.
Paying the ‘Demon’ the final word praise, Alcaraz – who instantly seems to have taken to grass-court tennis within the method his rivals should have feared – even prompt the Sydneysider was the favorite to win their ultimate showdown on the venerable Wimbledon warm-up occasion.
But regardless of being extra skilled and cozy on the floor, and searching immaculate in his 6-3 7-6 (7-2) semi-final win over Holger Rune on Saturday, de Minaur will recognise simply what big strides his 20-year-old opponent has made in only a week.
Alcaraz reckons he isn’t within the slightest bit fazed by the stress of figuring out victory over de Minaur would imply he goes into Wimbledon as world No.1 and high seed for the slam.
“You know, it’s an extra motivation for me to go into the final with extra energy,” the Spanish teenager stated.
“I’m going to go for it. Being top seed at Wimbledon, being No.1, it’s still a dream.
“(It’s) one thing that I work on, to recuperate the No.1. Novak and I, we’re having a good looking combat for the No.1.”
Alcaraz has had three separate spells at the summit since grabbing top spot in September last year, becoming the youngest man to do so at 19 years, four months and six days after his triumph in the US Open.
But Djokovic has wrested it back on three occasions, while also lifting the first two grand slams of the year in Melbourne and Paris.
“I’m going to go for it,” Alcaraz said. “It can be loopy for me to be high seed in Wimbledon.”
But de Minaur stands in his way, and the Spaniard has nothing but respect for the 24-year-old Australian No.1, who bases himself in Spain during the European season.
De Minaur held two match points against Alcaraz in their only previous match, the Barcelona Open semi-final on clay last year, before succumbing.
“I’ve seen Alex for a very long time. He shared numerous tournaments with my older brother (Alvaro). They performed once they had been youthful,” Alcaraz stated.
“The match that we performed in Barcelona was actually powerful. I saved match level and with a loopy passing shot,” he added, recalling his thrilling but exhausting 6-7 (4-7) 7-6 (7-4) 6-4 win that took three hours and 40 minutes.
“I do know that the extent of Alex, he is enjoying nice. He has crushed Rune, a terrific participant, within the semi-final. He has a sport that fits rather well on grass.
“So it’s going to be a really tough final. I’m going to say he’s the favourite with the level that he’s playing right now.
“All I can say is I’m going to take pleasure in. I’m going to take pleasure in my first ultimate on grass – and let’s examine what occurs.”
Source: www.perthnow.com.au
