ROLEX MONTE-CARLO MASTERS

April 12, 2025

Carlos Alcaraz

Press Conference

C. ALCARAZ/A. Davidovich Fokina

7-6, 6-4

THE MODERATOR: Questions for Carlos.

Q. Carlos, it will be your first final in Monte-Carlo. It was your first week on clay, in competition. Do you consider you are at the level you wanted to be at the beginning of the week?

CARLOS ALCARAZ: I'm gonna say I'm just happy to reach this level, but I think I could be better. Yeah, at the beginning of the week, the first tournament on clay, you have to get used to the conditions. The ball comes different. You know, the play on clay is different.

Really, yeah, at the beginning of the week, yeah, I'm just really happy to get the level that I wanted at the beginning of the week. Once I reach this level, I had to keep going just to improve, be better, and hopefully in the final even higher.

Q. I apologize for asking a question which is a bit futuristic, but we may not see each other before. There is a possibility for you to play against Novak in semifinals or finals of Roland Garros, the same place where you played the famous Olympic finals. How do you feel about possibly that match happening?

CARLOS ALCARAZ: Well, I don't know (smiling). I mean, it's always great playing against Djokovic, because he's always tough. Against him, you can see what is your level.

Could be great. Could be great. Why not? But, you know, it's super far away, I guess. Until that moment happen, a lot of things can happen during the tournament or during the week before, so let's see.

But, yeah, it could be great. Why not?

Q. Today you played against, you said, someone you know well, a friend. You still managed to win the key points and to be good, but what difference does it make mentally to play against someone you know so well?

CARLOS ALCARAZ: Well, probably you can play a little bit calmer, because you know him (smiling). You know his level. You know the things he's going to do in some way. So you can predict sometimes, you know, what shot he's gonna make. So that makes a little bit easier playing against someone that I know pretty good.

But in some other way, it's difficult, because the friendship we have off the court is really good. Playing against a friend or, yeah, having that battle against a friend, you know, for a final in a Masters 1000 sometimes can be tricky. But I just really happy to stay away from that friendship and just being a little bit selfish and thinking about myself (smiling).

Just really happy that I was able to do it, but yeah, there are good things and bad things about playing against a friend who I know pretty good.

Q. You said at the beginning of the week that the pressure linked to the absence or the ban of Jannik Sinner kind of killed you. I think these were your words.

CARLOS ALCARAZ: Yeah.

Q. Did you manage throughout this week to relieve yourself of this pressure? And my second question is you also said you needed to be more consistent throughout the matches. Do you think that you played today the most consistent match of the week?

CARLOS ALCARAZ: Yeah, the first question, you know, since Jannik was unable to play tournaments, a lot of people was asking me and talking about, you know, how important moment that I have ahead to reach the No. 1 again or to win tournaments or whatever.

So probably in a certain way I was thinking so much about it instead of playing my good tennis and enjoy the time that I stepping on the court and playing matches.

So after Miami, I realized the path that I have to follow, the things that I have to do. Is not thinking about results, is not thinking about anything else but just enjoying. That's the most important thing for me and not hear and all expectation or all the things that people are talking about you.

So that's what I'm trying to do. That's what I realized that I had to do. I think I'm doing pretty good just thinking about the people that I have around, my family, my team, and that's it. I think I just doing great on that terms.

Yeah, I think today was the best match that I have played so far in this tournament. I think I didn't let him, you know, dominate the game or come back to the match. I just put my good tennis during the whole match, really constant level, so I just really happy that I did it today.

Q. You don't know yet if you're going to play either Lorenzo or Alex de Minaur. Can you say a word about both?

CARLOS ALCARAZ: Well, both are playing great tennis. We saw Alex, you know, winning great matches, and I think Lorenzo has really good tennis on clay.

So I don't know. Probably Lorenzo, his first Masters 1000 semifinal. Let's see how he's gonna deal with it. Alex, I think he's a little bit more used to, you know, these conditions. So I think it's going to be a really good match to watch. I will try to watch a little bit, and let's see.

But whoever I play in the final, is going to be really difficult. That's for sure.