QATAR EXXONMOBIL OPEN

February 15, 2026

Carlos Alcaraz

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Welcome, everyone. First question?

Q. Curious, are you ready to get back into tournament mode after achieving so much history?

CARLOS ALCARAZ: Well, I mean, it is good to be back on court again. I've been practicing good. Obviously what I've done in Australia was incredible for me. I still thinking a little bit about it. But tennis is just about keeping going tournament after tournament. Every tournament is a really good tournament, it's special, you want to give a hundred percent.

Right now my focus is on play, or trying to play my best, trying to improve the things that I think that I just got to keep improving, keep doing good things on the court, so just happy to be able to do it again here in Doha.

Q. Just wondering about your first match against Rinderknech.

CARLOS ALCARAZ: Well he's really tough. I played a few times against him, and it's always difficult playing against him. I just excited about playing my first match here this year. And, yeah, just excited about feeling the love from the people and how it's going to be with them, how warm I'm going to be welcomed. It's going to be interesting. I'm excited to play against him once again.

Q. Seems that everybody in every tournament that you and Jannik are playing, that everybody waits for the final. So does this kind of thinking please you, or is more stressful for you?

CARLOS ALCARAZ: Well, neither. I know how difficult is every match. Every match is such a different, our play is totally different. I think this draw is a really tough one for a 500 tournament. We can see the first matches how good matches that we have in the first round.

So just thinking about, you know, a match at a time, and let's see how far I can go. Obviously my mind is trying to go as far as I can. You know, if it's possible to play a final, obviously that would be great, and that's what I'm looking for, so, let's see. I'm not thinking about playing or just putting myself in the finals just too much early. I want to think day by day.

Q. You arrive as world No. 1. Beyond winning this title, what other, what else are you looking for this week that would make this a successful week? Any part of your game improvements that you're looking for?

CARLOS ALCARAZ: Yeah, I've been practicing at home. Coming here, these days, my team and I, just we set up some goals for this tournament. We are not talking about results at all. It's just more about still in the process to be better, still in the process to grow up. There are some things that I really want to be better, and develop my game in a way that I really want to show up, and to, you know, pull it off here in this tournament.

So that could be a really successful week for me, besides results, that I see myself that I'm just doing the right things on and off the court.

Q. Curious, when you say, "things you want to improve," people are going to say, Well you're already near perfection, what does he want to improve. What do you want to get better at?

CARLOS ALCARAZ: Well, I mean, I just, obviously I can see myself that, you know, just having a lot of success so far, winning the biggest tournaments in the world. But, you know, I just see myself with weaknesses.

I mean, a lot of players, I know that they're trying to catch me up in terms of they study my game, they study how I play, trying to beat me, trying to challenge me. I have to be ready for that, and I have to see, you know, where my level is, where my tennis is. And I have to try to put myself in their minds and think what they could do if playing against me. So that's what I mean about saying I have to improve some things. Obviously you cannot be lagging in the level, you just have to keep it going.

Q. I've been to the Formula 1 tests, so how was the experience, and would you like to drive a double seated or something like that?

CARLOS ALCARAZ: Well, it was a great, it was a really cool experience, to be honest. I just really like Formula 1. Because of our schedule, to attend to a race is really difficult. But right now that I had the chance to go to the testing, see how they working when they are off-season testing the car, what they're doing with the car, just trying to be at the 100 percent for the first race.

It was impressive, to be honest, to see some drivers that I just know them, and wish them the best of luck for the season.

And, yeah, why not? I would love to. If they're driving, I would be more than happy to see the adrenaline that you can feel when you're in that kind of cars, or whatever cars it is, but when you feel the real fast, you know, it's happening.