Carlos Alcaraz has demonstrated his mental toughness during the early stages of his career
Alcaraz has demonstrated his mental toughness during the early stages of his career, winning 14 tour-level titles, including three majors. The former No. 1 in the PIF ATP Rankings thinks the belief he has in his game is crucial to his impressive record when it comes to the crunch.
“In my head I’m thinking that I’m good in the [fifth set] and have the belief that I am going to win, I’m going to play my best tennis,” Alcaraz added. “In every match that I’ve played five sets, I played really close or my best tennis. I realised that I’m good at it and I believe that I’m going to win. I think that’s a good point for me.”
Alcaraz was pushed hard by Tiafoe in their third Lexus ATP Head2Head meeting before eventually prevailing after three hours and 50 minutes on Centre Court. Alcaraz praised the American following their battle.
Alcaraz produced moments of brilliance in the third-round clash, highlighted by his backhand winner on set point in the second set and his flurry of explosive groundstrokes in the fourth-set tie-break.
.
”I [have] learned a lot. I grew up in terms of the ups and downs or losing the focus in the match. Right now, I think there are not too many ups and downs in the match. I stay in a really good level of intensity or focus during the whole match,” Alcaraz said. “Sometimes there are matches that I get down a little bit or I am struggling to get better or to get into the rhythm in the match.
However, the Spaniard is still trying to find greater consistency during the course of best-of-five matches. Alcaraz will continue the quest for his fourth major title when he meets Ugo Humbert or Brandon Nakashima in the fourth round.
