Bengaluru — Carlos Alcaraz makes his Queen’s Club Championships debut this week and the Spaniard knows he has a lot of adjustments to make to his game if he is to be a contender at the grass court event and at Wimbledon in July.
Alcaraz is coming off a disappointing French Open where the 20-year-old, who had warmed up for the clay court Grand Slam with titles in Barcelona and Madrid, suffered severe cramp during a 6-3 5-7 6-1 6-1 semifinal defeat to Novak Djokovic.
Alcaraz will be playing in only the third grass court tournament of his career at tour level this week and he said his practice on the surface had been limited.
“I arrived in London Saturday morning and I had my first practice on grass,” he said. “I wasn’t able to practice too much at home as we have no grass courts.
“I need to adapt my movement and shots on the grass, but I’m really happy with the practice I have had here.”
Alcaraz, who reached the fourth round at Wimbledon in 2022 before winning the US Open on the hard courts of New York, said how well he moves on grass would be key.
“You need to be more careful than other surfaces,” said Alcaraz, who plays Arthur Fils on Tuesday. “The most comfortable is going to the net and playing aggressively all the time. For me it’s similar to other surfaces with my style.
“There are a lot of players who slice on grass. I’m not one of them so I have to think about movement. I have to be focused on every movement and shot.
“For me it’s more tiring when you’re moving on grass. It’s totally different, so you have to be really specific.”
Meanwhile, Frances Tiafoe became only the third African-American man to reach the top 10 in the world rankings, joining Arthur Ashe and James Blake after the 25-year-old captured the third title of his career in Stuttgart on Sunday.
The US Open semifinalist survived a championship point in the third-set tiebreak to seal a thrilling 4-6 7-6(1) 7-6(8) win over German Jan-Lennard Struff for his first grass court crown ahead of July’s Grand Slam at Wimbledon.
Tiafoe, who was born to immigrant parents who eventually settled in the US after fleeing civil war in Sierra Leone in the 1990s, said reaching a career-high No 10 was something that he would never forget.
“Super emotional. For a guy like me, with my story and everything,” said Tiafoe, who was exposed to the sport when his father worked as a caretaker at a tennis centre in Maryland.
“I’m a guy who shouldn’t even really be here doing half the things he’s doing. And now when you say his name, you can say he’s top 10 in the world. So [that is] something that no-one can take from you and I’m going to remember that forever. And hopefully, I can ride that for a long time.”
Tiafoe’s achievement means he and No 8 Taylor Fritz are the first American duo in the top 10 since Mardy Fish and John Isner in May 2012. He has also won titles on every surface after claiming the Houston clay court crown earlier in the year to add to his 2018 triumph on the hard courts of Delray Beach.
“It shows that I’m a complete player. When I’m locked in I can play on every surface,” Tiafoe said.
Reuters
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