Carlos Alcaraz: “I could never cheer against Nadal.”
Alcaraz is number one in the world by the end of 2022
Carlos Alcaraz was honored at the PalAlpitour in Turin where the Nitto ATP Finals are being held for finishing the season at number one in the world rankings. The Spanish tennis player, the youngest in history to hit this milestone, made some statements at a press conference after the ceremony.
“Unbelievable that it is me, to make this record,” Alcaraz began, “I think about how much I worked to live this moment, to finish as number one in the world. We’ll try to keep it up, but it’s incredible. To get to a finish line is very difficult, but in my opinion the most difficult thing is to stay at that level. I will have to work hard, I want to stay here for a long time and I will try, winning tournaments and more Slams. That’s the goal.”
The elimination of Rafael Nadal and the defeat of Stefanos Tsitsipas allowed Alcaraz to end the year in first place, although Carlitos admitted that he was not rooting against: “You asked me to be honest, so as far as Tsitsipas is concerned I was rooting for Djokovic, because I don’t know Stefanos that well on a personal level, but as far as Rafa is concerned I cannot root against him. He is Spanish, he is the idol of my whole life, if he took the number one from me I would have been just happy for him.”
Finally, the 19-year-old from Murcia also gave an update on his physical condition: “The recovery is going fast, I want to recover as soon as possible. I hope that in a week I will have improved even more. I believe that by the start of the season I will be 100 percent ready. The first few weeks after injury are important to avoid relapse and do a good rehabilitation. Now I’m doing a lot of exercises. Then I’m taking some vacation time to get away, but only a few, then I’m focusing on the work to be done. I will go to Australia in the first days of January. Of course, I don’t know yet how the injury will progress. At the moment the plan is to go straight into the Australian Open.”
