Masters Cup 2025: Alcaraz, two wins, still a job to do: “From the outside, everything looks easier than it is” | Tennis | Sports

Around midnight, Carlos Alcaraz and his team turned off the TV and left after watching Lorenzo Musetti’s comeback against Alex de Minaur. He previously did his duty against Taylor Fritz in the first round, but the result of the night’s match prevented him from reaching the semi-finals of the Masters Cup and now he has to: on Thursday (8:30 p.m., Movistar+) he must overcome the Italian, to avoid possible numerical clashes that could put him in danger. It was now in his hands, but what looked good – a win for the Australian would have qualified him outright – ended up being tarnished. It will be played at night and against a local tennis player.

However, this circumstance did not seem to worry him as much as the fact that during the first set and part of the second against Fritz, he did not find quite the right feeling. Although the final percentages were positive, Alcaraz suffered for a long time with the serve and suffered from his opponent’s oppressive response to the rest and did not perform well. sense From day one when it came to delivering hits and building the game. The stats reflected good levels – 64% efficiency and 74% shot retention on first shots, or 47 winning shots – but the tennis player added a serious tone to the fatigue during the conference room presentation: “I have to focus on playing well.”

They immediately asked Murcian about the possibility of retaining first place at the conclusion of the tournament, and thus the tournament. This will be the second time he has achieved this in his career, after the success of 2022. However, Alcaraz, exhausted, appears to still be contemplating his performance against the American. He had already scored a few hours earlier on court, still warm: “I have to focus on feeling better than I felt today. Being better with my shots, my serve, a little bit in everything in general. I didn’t feel as comfortable as the first day.” And that was the impression. The return is valuable, the final discovery of the tactical solution. But also some lumps in the throat.

He described: “I overcame very difficult moments and achieved a very important victory.” “In a tennis match, everything can change at any moment. When you are on the court, you do not think about what will happen, you focus on the present. If you do not have good feelings, it is difficult to believe that they will arrive, and from the outside everything seems easier than it really is. But today and in other matches I saw that if you persist and maintain a good attitude, in the end everything improves and you end up playing much better,” added the player from El Palmar, who had difficulty. Control time. He has maintained himself thanks to his survival instinct and some key strategic adjustments.

Local enthusiasm

From the beginning he delayed his return position with the aim of gaining depth in the deliveries so that Fritz would be forced to retreat and lose the initiative. Moreover, he gave greater impact to the blow, distancing himself from the flat brawl that the American had been throwing at him for more than an hour and a half. This is how it continued and the fighting scenario changed, with great physical losses. The subsequent meeting with reporters was scheduled approximately two hours after it was dissolved, by a large margin, and was finally held half an hour later, at 7:20 p.m. Reason responded to the process of recovery, transcendent at this point.

From the solitude to the locker room, Alcaraz placed himself in the hands of his shaman, Juanjo Moreno. There wasn’t a second to waste, so he met with a physical trainer and physiotherapist to try to mitigate the damage from a difficult appointment as much as possible. “It was a very difficult match physically, but also mentally. In addition, the conditions today were different: I felt very hot and very humid… and that affects during such a long match. It is difficult to recover, but the good thing is that we have one day left before the next match. We will try to do everything perfectly, down to the millimeter, to reach the best conditions and help the team,” he said.

The ringleader emphasized the wear and tear of effort and concentration – “Not allowing negative thoughts to trump positive ones, for three hours in a row, makes you very tired” – while at the same time insisting on trying to put aside the temptation to focus on finishing an exceptional season on top: “Let’s try not to think about it too much, because it can fool you,” he told himself; “If you give it too much importance, you may go into matches with extra pressure or not control your nerves well. I am competing with Yannick and if I achieve that in the end, that would be very nice, but we place more value on focusing on the championship.”

Now the decisive episode against Musetti, with all its implications, is approaching. Italy is a country passionate about tennis – federal licenses increased by 136% between 2019 and 2024, and the FITP network of clubs has grown by almost 30% in the same time frame – and the Inalpi Arena will devote itself to its player in the night session. “I was out of breath, but this situation gave me the energy I needed,” said the Carrara, who made his first appearance in the main event. On the other hand, De Minaur is sad. There are 16 consecutive defeats against Top 10“This affects me a lot mentally.” Alcaraz, who dominates the direct confrontations (6-1), is preparing for the battle. Without a doubt, ready.