Stefanos Tsitsipas might be almost five years older than Carlos Alcaraz but the Spaniard is proving to be an achilles heel of his on the Tour.
The two locked horns on Sunday in the final of the Barcelona Open where Alcaraz eased his way to a straight sets victory. The win was the fourth consecutive time Tsitsipas has lost to the world No.2 and he is yet to beat him. In their other encounters, the Greek only managed to win two out of nine sets played in their rivalry which began back in 2021 at the US Open.
Tsitsipas admits he has improvements to make in his game if he wants to end his losing streak. At the Madrid Masters they can only renew their rivalry should they reach the final which they have both done in the past. With the 10-day tournament getting underway on Wednesday, this seems very far away. Although it is in the back of Tsitsipas’ mind.
“I have to practise to improve things, that’s the only way that I know to change something in the future. I don’t have any other solutions for beating a player who’s a big obstacle for me,” the world No.5 told reporters when asked about playing Alcaraz.
“Carlos is someone who works extremely hard, you can see his flexibility on the court, his speed is immense. He’s someone who has so much focus and a dedication to the sport that’s tough to find. In order to get there, I’d have to spend hours on the court practising, also hours in the gym working out and hours in my room analysing my past performances and trying to get better.”
Alcaraz does have the added pressure of being expected to shine in front of his home fans. The focus on him is even more than usual due to the absence of Rafael Nadal who is continuing to deal with a hip injury. However, these high expectations appear to be spurring him on even more.
“I don’t take it as pressure, actually the complete opposite”, Alcaraz said on Tuesday. “For me it’s motivation. It’s a pleasure to see so many people, I like playing in front of such big crowds, and even more so in Spain. It’s a really big motivation. Our intention is to have fun on court and also to entertain. When I manage to have fun on court I play my best tennis.”
Describing himself as a ‘candidate’ for the title in Madrid, Tsitsipas will be hoping to do better than 12 months ago when he reached the semi-finals before losing to Alexander Zverev in a late-night showdown. Overall, he has won eight out of 12 matches played at the event with his best run being to the final in 2019.
Tsitsipas is yet to win a trophy this year but was runner-up to Novak Djokovic at the Australian Open. It was shortly after that match that he started to experience issues with his shoulder that affected his performance on the Tour. Fortunately, that issue has since been resolved and he is eager to get back to winning ways.
“I’d have to work extremely hard in every match that I play to get the result that I want. And that is a series of matches that I would have to do back-to-back in order to get to that potential final that I’m looking for,” he said of his Madrid campaign. “A lot of players are in good shape right now, a lot of players are putting in the work. I’ve played a few matches in the last few weeks that give me a perspective of where my strong weapons are and how I can win points on clay.”
Both Tsitsipas and Alcaraz have received byes in the first round of Madrid.
