After recently rubbing shoulders with Andre Agassi during his time in Las Vegas, Carlos Alcaraz has revealed that he received some tips from the American tennis great.
The two attended that Netflix Slam earlier this month. An exhibition match between Alcaraz and Rafael Nadal that the world No.2 won in three tightly contested sets. Agassi was part of the commentary team for the event which was the first tennis match in history to be broadcast live on Netflix. Away from the camera, Alcaraz took the opportunity to seek some advice from the eight-time major champion.
“I ask him for a few tips, a few things about how he was doing during his career, how he dealt with the pressure or how he stayed at the high- rank or the high intensity during almost his whole career,” Alcaraz told The Tennis Channel on Sunday.
“He told me that ‘you have to give your 100% every day, or if you feel at your 80%, you have to give you 100% of that 80%. He told me the importance of every day. You cannot miss nothing in a day.”
At the age of 20, Alcaraz has already clinched 12 ATP titles with two of those being at Grand Slam tournaments. He holds the records for the youngest ATP No.1 in the Open Era, the youngest Miami Open champion and the youngest Madrid Open winner. In total, he has won more than 160 matches on the Tour so far in his career.
However, there is always room for improvement with Agassi recently pointing out an area of the Spaniard’s game that needs to be worked on.
“I do get a little concerned for him sometimes when he’s on the static side. When his feet don’t have to move as much sometimes he doesn’t know where to direct that energy and he gets set a little too early, not quite the same conviction on his shots when he can be in control of the point.” Tennis majors quoted Agassi as saying.
“I still question if Carlos has figured out what he’s going to rely on to create that consistent pressure for his opponent that gives him the highest percentage of locking something down. He might serve, volley he might his first ball drop, he can do all of it.”
“He’s going to find it, he’s only 20. It’s going to be beautiful when he does. I hope it’s soon and often.”
The title drought
Alcaraz is currently playing at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells where he is the defending champion. He is seeking to win his first title of any sort since triumphing over Novak Djokovic at Wimbledon last year. In recent months, things haven’t gone entirely his way on the Tour but alarm bells aren’t ringing just yet.
“I always try to think about the positive things, even if I lose, there are always positive things,” he explains.
“I try to think about it and really focus on the next practice to try to improve the mistakes that I made in those losses. It’s not time to give up or feel bad about something. I’m in a position that I dreamt of when I was a kid, and it’s time to keep improving, to keep growing. That’s my main mindset.”
Alcaraz has experienced an encouraging start to his title defence in Indian Wells. In his opening match, he dropped the first set against Matteo Arnaldi before winning 12 out of the next 13 games to seal victory. Then in the third round, he posted a solid 6-2, 6-3, win over former top 10 player Felix Auger-Aliassime.
Next up for Alcaraz will be a rematch against Fabian Marozsan who produced a shock win against him at the 2023 Italian Open.
“I try to beat him on the drop shots, I think he beat me in Rome with really beautiful drop shots. Really good tennis,” he reflected.
“I know his game, but he’s been playing good tennis lately, beating big guys. so I know it’s going to be a really tough match, but I’m ready for that.”
