ROLAND GARROS

May 26, 2023

Carlos Alcaraz

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Welcome back to Paris. How did you feel when you saw your name as the top seed of a Grand Slam event for the first time?

CARLOS ALCARAZ: Well, for me, it's still crazy to see myself in top 1 seed in a Grand Slam. But for me, at same time is great. Is something that I work for to be there. Yeah, I'm really happy to be No. 1 seed here in Roland Garros.

THE MODERATOR: Questions in English.

Q. I'm just wondering where you think your game is now compared to last year. Obviously you've had so much success. How much better of a player are you now? How much more confidence do you have?

CARLOS ALCARAZ: Well, talking about tennis, I would say I'm the same player than last year, only change that I would say is that I'm more mature. Mentally I'm better. And I can read what happened on court better than last year. For me, it's really, really important, and I would say it's the most different than last year.

Q. Can you tell us what you have been doing since you finished in Rome? Was there maybe some advantage in having some time away from tournaments?

CARLOS ALCARAZ: Well, I took some days off. Doing nothing, nothing, just chilling. Been with family, friends, you know, is needed as well.

Yeah, I try and I had like five days practicing in the academy at home that is really helpful for me, you know, to be away from tournaments a little bit, have more intensity practice, you know, physical, and of course in tennis that used to do this year, because I didn't have more than four days to practice, just to play matches and matches, and for me have this time to prepare Roland Garros as good as I did these past days. It was great.

Q. As you have gone from bigger and bigger tournaments, bigger and bigger stadiums, it seems that you have never really been uncomfortable. Is that you pretending and that you are uncomfortable, or are you really able to just adjust and stay calm? How is it that you do that?

CARLOS ALCARAZ: Well, at the beginning when I played against the best ones, you know, in the best stadiums, it was tough for me to get used to that and to stay calm.

But I learned from that moments. I remember, for example, against Rafa for my first time in Madrid, it was really, really tough. I can name a lot of matches that I didn't feel comfortable playing on that.

But as I said, I learned from that, and I always wanted to play in that stadiums, in that tournament, and I tried to feel comfortable playing on that. Right now I feel great playing in the great stadiums.

Q. When you say you have been chilling and relaxing, what does that mean for you? Rafa this time of year would be playing golf or would be out on his boat. What do you do to relax and unwind?

CARLOS ALCARAZ: Well, I played golf one day (smiling). Of course have time with friends, family. You know, for me, doing nothing special, just, you know, spending time with them. Quality time at home is really helpful for me. So as I said, is nothing special.

Q. With the Olympics being here next year, what would be your first Olympics and likely Rafa's last, have you considered the possibility of playing doubles with Rafa, or is that something you would consider?

CARLOS ALCARAZ: For me, it could be a dream playing doubles with him, you know, in the Olympics. So of course let's see. Let's see how he's doing and how he's going, you know, in this year. Hopefully, you know, he's going great. But yeah, for me it could be a dream to play doubles with him.

Q. I wanted to know, how did you react when Rafa announced that he wasn't able to be here? Do you feel that makes the tournament way more open and more interesting this year?

CARLOS ALCARAZ: Well, I felt bad when I hear that Rafa, he was not able to play here in Roland Garros and probably the rest of the year. You know, as I said before, as a fan of tennis, as I said, as a fan, you know, I always to watch Rafa playing. I always want to watch the best players in the world playing the tournaments.

And of course learning from them really close, here in the locker rooms, you know, around the club, the tournament for me is great.

When I hear that, for me, it was tough, you know, to understand how it's gonna be, you know, without Rafa this year. Hopefully to see him next year that he's 100%, hopefully.

Q. You have dealt with some injuries late last year and the beginning of this year. Was it difficult for you to be away during that time? What was it like for you during the Australian Open? Did you pay much attention to what's going on? Were you thinking, wow, I wish I was there? Or do you think it's okay, I'm still very young, I have a lot of these left to play in?

CARLOS ALCARAZ: Well, it was really, really tough, you know, at the end of last year. Wasn't able to play, you know, the Nitto Finals. Was not able to play Australian Open.

For me was really, really tough, because talking about Australia, it was a tournament that I really wanted to play. I thought that I had the opportunity to do a good result in Australia, and yeah, got injured and had, let's say, yeah, four, five weeks to recover that injury. It was tough.

But the same time, I'm a guy who looks the positive things about everything. It was a good time for me to prepare, you know, the rest of the season, you know, and being more prepared about everything what was coming in that time.

You know, preparing, practicing, stay calm, you know, practicing as well the mental part to stay calm, to stay positive in that tough moments, that's help me a lot to came into competition as good as I did.

Q. Do you consider yourself stronger than Rafael Nadal at the same age? Stronger, less, or equal?

CARLOS ALCARAZ: I don't know. You know, it's different time, you know, when he was 20 years old. I can't say right now if I'm stronger right now than him at the same age.

Of course he did great things at my age, but I can't answer that question.