Carlos Alcaraz had zero Grand Slams at this time last year when he played at the Canadian Open but now he's got two of them.
The first one came fairly shortly after his Canadian Open as he won the US Open for his maiden Grand Slam trophy. The Spaniard added a second recently at Wimbledon beating Novak Djokovic in the final and it's still something he needs to get used to.
To help himself with that the Spaniard planted the trophy in his living room so that he can see it when he spends time there. It might be odd for some but imagine working all your life towards something and then you have a reminder that you achieved it.
I have the trophy in my living room over there [so] that every time that I have lunch, have dinner with my family, I see the trophy. It's something that I [don’t want] to forget.
The Wimbledon triumph still lingers heavily in his mind. There wasn't much time to properly process it but there will be, unless he adds another one in New York. The triumph was a dream come true and totally unexpected.
I had just a week to think about it. I had not too much time. And I think I needed a little bit more because it's something that is crazy to realise. Honestly, for me, winning Wimbledon at 20 years old is something that I dreamed about when I started playing tennis. It was my fourth tournament on grass, so it was totally unexpected.
Still, Wimbledon is in the past and it's time to focus on the future. The goal is simple, do well in Toronto after a rather disappointing outing in Montreal last year. He was beaten by Tommy Paul fairly early in the event and he wants to do much better this time around.
I remember that I [did] not [have] a good run last year in Canada. I came this year to change it, hopefully to have a good run, better than last year. But one year later, I think I learned a lot from that situation on how to deal with the pressure, how to deal [with] everything.
It's great to be here. I had my first practice today with Medvedev and I felt the love from the people. They were screaming, ‘Carlitos. let's go! Come on!’ It was my first practice and my first time here in Toronto, so it was special.
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