ROLEX MONTE-CARLO MASTERS

April 7, 2026

Carlos Alcaraz

Press Conference

C. ALCARAZ/S. Baez

6-1, 6-3

THE MODERATOR: Well done. How do you feel back on clay for the first time in a lot of months?

CARLOS ALCARAZ: Well, it was great. Yeah, as I said, I miss clay, the clay season. So just really happy to be able to play again on clay. Even better the way that I did it. I think I just played great, and it was a great start of the tournament.

THE MODERATOR: Questions in English.

Q. Yourself and Jannik always say that you push each other and that you know you need to improve. When you look at what Jannik did last year on clay, does that make you feel you need to go a step up on clay this year?

CARLOS ALCARAZ: Well, I know Jannik, and we all could see that he always come back even stronger and even better when he lose matches. I'm pretty sure he's looking back, you know, to the tournaments he played on the clay last year, and I'm pretty sure he's gonna be better this year. So I just gotta be ready for that.

So I would say he feels more natural on hard court and I feel more natural on clay, that I just grew up playing on clay my whole life.

Let's see how it's going to be. I would say he's hungry for everything on clay and I would say the other tournaments or it is at the tournaments that he misses in his belt. So let's see how it's gonna be, but for sure, for him and for me obviously it's gonna be quite interesting clay season ahead.

Q. One of the unusual things about tennis is that when you're facing a slightly injured player, sometimes that can be quite a tricky scenario. Sometimes it can get into the other player's head and you can be thinking about the injury. In the past when you were less experienced you have been through that scenario, and I'm writing a piece about that scenario. Curious if you could kind of explain why that could be tricky?

CARLOS ALCARAZ: When you're playing against someone who can show that he's injured?

Q. When they're a bit injured and maybe they play freely, maybe it's a bit in your head?

CARLOS ALCARAZ: Yeah, it's like, yeah, when that happens, it feels like, you know, the match or the next point, it isn't that important, I would say. I don't know how to explain it, but it feels like you're thinking about more the opponent than yourself, than the things that you have to do.

That's why it becomes a little bit tricky, when you're playing or when you're in that scenario, when you're thinking about the opponent or something. He's injured or he's having or is feeling a little pain and is still playing great and is still playing good, it feel like I don't know what I should do. And you are starting to play, I would say, for not missing the ball than going for it. I would say that's where it becomes a little bit tricky.

Q. I would like to ask you a little follow-up about what you said a couple days ago in the Media Day. You said you were not expecting Jannik to come to this tournament. Could I ask you why? It's maybe because you're thinking he's coming because of the No. 1 fighting to each other, or you were thinking maybe he was like playing Indian Wells and Miami and he finish late in Miami? I would like to understand why you were thinking he was not coming here.

CARLOS ALCARAZ: No, no, I mean, I just think a lot of things ahead of, like, it feels like we guessing the players which tournament they're gonna play sometimes.

Obviously he was successful in Indian Wells, Miami, a lot of matches, a long swing. And from the last day Miami until the first day here, it's such a, like, one week, I would say. So you are coming from different time difference, different surface, different everything, different balls.

So it's tricky when you don't have that much time to prepare yourself for another surface, another kind of play, another tournament, another environment, I would say.

But, you know, it's up to him. Obviously it's the decision of other player to go to one tournament or other. So if he decide to come here, that means that he feels good physically, he feels good mentally and he's excited to come here.

But I was surprised because he has a lot of matches in the last month, playing hard court and not having that much time to rest and to prepare for clay.

But we could see that he's playing doubles, he played great today. So that means, you know, the kind of great player he is, because he adapt himself really good in such a short period of time one surfaces to other.

Q. It's a little bit follow-up. Is it more difficult in your opinion for him who is a natural player on hard court to come with a short time on clay, or would be more difficult for you who are natural player on clay to do the vice versa, in a few days go from clay to hard court?

CARLOS ALCARAZ: I would say it's easier going from clay court to hard court. I would say that's easier, because, I don't know, the movement is, like, it's easier or it's easier to understand the game on hard court than on clay.

On clay, you need, like, I would say more time to see how the ball is coming, how the ball is bouncing, everything, to move, to slice. So, I mean, I would say we slice in every surface like it is in clay, but the movement is quite different how you feel on court.

I would say it's easier to move from clay to hard court than hard court to clay court. I'm telling that in terms of having, like, two or three days.

Q. You said after the match on court that you were proud of your game today. Were you surprised to play already so well in your first -- you said you only have a few things to improve, but are you surprised you played so well today?

CARLOS ALCARAZ: Yeah. I surprised myself (smiling). Yeah, I mean, the first match of every tournament is never easy. It's always tricky with everything you have in mind. It's even tougher when it's a different surface and thinking that my last match of clay was almost one year ago.

So I thought I was going to feel a little bit worse in terms of everything, but yeah, surprised with the movement, with how I hit the ball, how I felt on the court.

So I just really, really happy about it. Hopefully feeling the same way in the next round or just getting better and better every day.