By Richard Pagliaro | @Tennis_Now | Saturday, October 5, 2024
Photo: Shi Tang/Getty
Stumbling through a disappointing American summer of hard courts, Carlos Alcaraz is flying high in China this fall.
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Beijing champion Alcaraz won over the talented Chinese Juncheng Shang 6-3, 6-2 in the opening match of the Rolex Shanghai Masters.
This was Alcaraz’s 10th straight win.
Haunted by the emotional pain of falling to Novak Djokovic in the Olympic gold medal match in Paris, Alcaraz was upset by Gael Monfils in his Cincinnati opener before bowing out to Botic van de Zandschulp in a shock second-round upset of US Open.
Since then, Alcaraz has won 19 of the 21 sets he has played in his 10-match winning streak.
“I think I’m feeling good on the field, physically I’m feeling good,” Alcaraz told the media in Shanghai. “For me, for my tennis, it’s really important to feel like that. I’m hitting the ball really, really well too, so I’m trying to be the same in the match.”
The reigning Roland Garros and Wimbledon champion attributes his downward rise to two simple reasons: He feels good physically and has reconnected with the joy of the game.
“I’m a guy who tries to keep things positive. For example, in the American swing it didn’t go as I expected, so I had more time to prepare well this part of the season,” said Alcaraz. “I’ve had a couple of weeks where I’ve really worked, I’ve done a really good job physically on the court, just to feel good coming into this tournament.
“I think that’s the difference and that’s why I’m playing really good tennis, because physically I’m feeling good and, you know, I’m just trying to have fun and enjoy my time on the court, playing good points. playing good rallies and the way I’m hitting the ball has been pretty good lately.”
