Carlos Alcaraz has claimed that he's now Novak Djokovic’s greatest opponent. The 20-year-old defeated the Serb to win Wimbledon final month. And the pair are again in battle once more, this time competing for the world No 1 rating and the highest seed spot on the US Open.

Djokovic is again in motion this week in Cincinnati, his first match since Wimbledon the place he misplaced to Alcaraz within the last. It marked the world No 2’s first defeat on Centre Court in a decade and confirmed that the Spaniard was a menace to his dominance on the greatest occasions.

The pair are as soon as once more combating for one of many sport’s biggest honours, as each Alcaraz and Djokovic can finish the match because the world No 1 with the teen at the moment occupying the highest spot. Ahead of their contest to be the highest seed on the US Open, Alcaraz mentioned he thought he had grow to be the Serb’s predominant rival.

“I like those battles. I like to know that I can lose, and I can recover it at the same time,” the 12-time title winner mentioned forward of the Cincinnati Open. “Of course, you have to enjoy when the battle is against one of the legends from our sport, against Novak.

“I feel that I'm [the] main opponent for him. For me, it's something crazy, and I'm trying to enjoy [it].” Alcaraz admitted that he was properly conscious of the battle for the No 1 rating this week as he made it his aim to remain on the prime for so long as potential.

The 20-year-old added: “You have to put goals to yourself during the season, in every tournament. And for me right now the main goal is to stay in the top spot and if I lose it, try to recover it as fast as I can. It's something that helped me a lot to show my best level in the big tournaments.”

Alcaraz is defending 180 factors this week in Cincinnati whereas Djokovic has nothing to defend for all the North American hard-court swing as he was unable to play final 12 months due to Covid vaccine journey restrictions.

The Spaniard additionally contested final week’s Canadian Open in Toronto the place he misplaced within the quarter-final. “It wasn't a good week for me, but [I have] a lot of things to improve coming into this tournament,” Alcaraz mentioned after having a while to replicate on his latest loss to Tommy Paul.

“Looking back to last year,] first round [in Montreal] and then] quarter-finals [in Cincinnati], and then I won the US Open. I have to overcome that week that I had in Toronto, try to play better here and try to do better the things that I did bad in Toronto.”