“If they play that level every match, they should be higher in the ranking,” Alcaraz said. “But it is obviously something that concerns me. When I’m just playing, I think about that. All I can do is just accept it, keep it going, trying to do different things in the match.
“Trying to not to let him be aggressive or play his style. Put my style, my tennis, my level into the match and try to turn around the things that way I try to do. But obviously, the first thing is just accept it.”
Alcaraz is bidding to win a third career title in Tennis Paradise, having won consecutive trophies in 2023 and 2024. And with his blistering start to the season, comparisons have naturally been made to Novak Djokovic’s world-beating 43-match winning streak from 2010-11—the fifth-longest in the Open Era.
While Alcaraz says he “feel[s] like [he] have a target on [his] back” that would see an in-form opponent derail that bid, the Serb himself thinks that the Spaniard can match it.
