Alcaraz Sheds Light On His Decision To Skip Tournaments Prior To Australian Open

| by Zachary Wimer

Carlos Alcaraz, like Jannik Sinner, had a late finish to the 2023 ATP season, and he opted to skip the preparation events ahead of the 2024 Australian Open.

Skipping preparation events seems to have become a trend among tennis players, at least this year. Quite a few of them have opted to completely miss out on them in preparation for the first Grand Slam of the year.

Daniil Medvedev didn't play any preparation events, even though he did play an exhibition in Abu Dhabi, which could count as one. Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner are better examples because they truly did skip any preparation events ahead of the Grand Slams.

That doesn't mean they missed tennis because they didn't. Sinner was in action at the Kooyong Classic and played well, while Alcaraz faced Djokovic in Riyadh in December.

He also played Caspeer Ruud in the Australian Open charity match, beating him comfortably after previously losing to Alex de Minaur in another charity match. It's not the ideal preparation, but it's good enough, especially with how much tennis he played late last year.

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"Well, we end the season so, so late. I prefer to have a holiday, have my days to recover my body, my mind as well. Obviously I prefer to do a really good pre-season. I think we discussed with my team, as well, that we need almost four, five weeks of pre-season to prepare well this season, for the first Grand Slam of the year. We have no time if I wanted to play a tournament before the Australian Open."

There is simply a strong belief in both Alcaraz and these other players that one or two matches are enough. Novak Djokovic often showed that you can play in a good rhythm during an event.

You're risking getting beaten early, but if you're good enough, you can skate through the early rounds and ramp up as you go. Alcaraz doesn't lack self-belief, and doing it this way was simply the team's preference.

"At the end we preferred to come here to Australian Open, straight to a Grand Slam. Yeah, I think I'm a guy who doesn't need so much competition before a big tournament. Obviously always help. I think I'm prepared to do a good things here in the Grand Slam."

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