Carlos Alcaraz went into the Queen’s Club tournament with limited expectations and ended up winning his first grass court title.
Now the newly re crowned world No 1 is planning to follow a similar approach when he aims to win is first Wimbledon title next month.
During his press conference following his 6-4 6-4 defeat of Alex de Minaur in Sunday’s final in London, Alcaraz was in a jovial mood as he was asked whether his Queen’s Club win has changed his expectations ahead of Wimbledon.
“No expectation,” he said when asked about his Wimbledon hopes. “You know, if I have no expectation, I’m gonna win it (smiling).
“But, no, honestly, yeah, I have a lot of confidence right now coming into Wimbledon. I ended the week playing at the high level. So right now I feel one of the favourites, you know, to win Wimbledon.
“But yeah, I consider myself, you know, a good player on grass with all the weapons that I have.”
The topic of ending Djokovic was a theme running through Alcaraz’s press conference after he got his hands the big silver winners’ trophy and he admitted he is ready to take on the challenge of ending the Serbian’s long unbeaten run at the All England Club.
“I go into Wimbledon right now with a lot of confidence. That’s obvious,” declared Alcaraz.
“I saw a statistic that Novak has won more matches in Wimbledon that the other top 20 players. What can I say about that, you know? I mean, Novak is the main favorite to win Wimbledon. That’s obvious.
“But I will try to play at this level, you know, to have chances, you know, to beat him or make the final at Wimbledon. A lot of players are coming with a lot of confidence, like (Alexander) Bublik has won Halle as well.
“So there are a lot of great players playing on grass. I have to play my best, you know, go to Wimbledon playing at this level. I will have chances, that’s for sure.
“I see Novak as the main favourite. This win for me us not going to change that.”
Alcaraz was also asked about the rapturous reception he received from the London fans, with the reporter who posed the question suggesting he may already be more popular than Djokovic in a city where he has now always been well received.
“As I said, I felt the love from the people since day one,” he added.
“For me it’s really, really important I hope in Wimbledon to feel the same energy, the same love that I felt during this week. You know, I hope it will help me, you know, to get through the rounds in Wimbledon.
“But I saw as well that Djokovic has never lost a match in the Centre Court since I think 2013 when he lost against Andy (Murray), so it’s 10 years without losing a match in the Centre Court of Wimbledon.
“So it’s been crazy, but I hope to have the crowd behind me to have chances to change that statistics.”
The tennis world would relish the chance to witness another Alcaraz v Djokovic showdown in the third Grand Slam final of 2023 and on the evidence of the form shown by the young Spaniard at Queen’s, he may be the biggest threat the seven-time Wimbledon king has faced in recent years.
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