Carlos Alcaraz ‘placing the hours in’ earlier than Wimbledon and has low expectations
Carlos Alcaraz has admitted that he nonetheless doesn’t see himself as a title favorite at Queen’s after coming via a troublesome opening match. The prime seed wanted two hours and 34 minutes to flee fortunate loser Arthur Rinderknech. And Alcaraz admitted that he must preserve placing within the hours on the grass to adapt to the floor.
Alcaraz made his Queen’s debut on Tuesday as he edged previous Rinderknech 4-6 7-5 7-6(3). The world No 2 had a last-minute change of opponent earlier than he was set to take to the court docket when qualifier Arthur Fils withdrew injured.
He handed a troublesome check in opposition to the world No 83 however admitted that there’s nonetheless work to be finished on the grass forward of Wimbledon. “It was my first match on grass. It was difficult at the beginning, you know, to play again to competition. You know, grass is never easy, the first matches,” he stated.
“But obviously I had to, you know, stay there. I was thinking during the match it was going to be better, to feel better on court. And yeah, during the match I was thinking that I need hours on court. I need, you know, play as much as I can.
“So for me, it was great to have this tough match. You know, I’m saying that after winning. If I had lost, it was totally different. But, you know, it was really good for me, coming in.” The match marked Alcaraz’s first on the grass on the ATP Tour, as he had solely beforehand performed Wimbledon twice.
Despite being the highest seed, Alcaraz downplayed his hopes of going all the best way this week. He continued: “Well, honestly my expectation in this tournament are not too high. You know, I have played two tournaments on grass in my career.
“I’m not going to count the juniors obviously. It was two Wimbledons. I have played just five or six matches in my career. This is my seventh match. So I have not played too much on grass. So I have to, you know, play on grass, put hours on grass on my back and have more experience than that.
“Right now my expectations about winning this tournament are not too high. I’m just focused on, you know, play on grass, have hours, and getting ready into Wimbledon and of course have experience on grass.”
Alcaraz will subsequent face Jiri Lehecka after the 21-year-old defeated Alejandro Davidovich Fokina 7-6(4) 6-3. And the Spaniard is having fun with the fantastic thing about grass-court tennis – one thing he attributed to Roger Federer.
“Yeah. I enjoying playing on grass. I mean, playing on grass is beautiful, and I would say the game of everybody become, you know, more beautiful, I would say. Serve and volley, return/volley, you know, slices. I would say Federer put elegance into play on grass. I am talking for me,” he smiled.