Carlos Alcaraz played his first match ever at the Cinch Championships and it was a good start for him on the grass.
Alcaraz only played two events on grass before this one. It was Wimbledon last year and the previous year. This event is only his 3rd grass event and even though he racked up more wins than defeats, the Spaniard wasn't particularly confident about his grass tennis.
The surface is not the issue as he quite enjoys it but the familiarity with it isn't the same compared to clay and hard courts. Its surface with a learning curve and the movement, in particular, was a concern for him. It looked good and he enjoyed it as well.
Yeah. I enjoying playing on grass. I mean, playing on grass is beautiful, and I would say the game of everybody become, you know, more beautiful, I would say.
Wimbledon and the whole grass season have a certain charm to it. Besides probably being the most prestigious tennis event, Wimbledon also has the legend of Roger Federer. No player looked more 'beautiful' and elegant on a tennis court and Alcaraz grew up watching him play. Memories of him waltzing around the grass court in all-white clothing are something we all have in our memories.
Serve and volley, return/volley, you know, slices. I would say Federer put elegance into play on grass. I am talking for me.
Yeah, I like to hit, you know, good shots, go to the net hitting, you know, dropshots, volley and dropshots. I would say that's beautiful for me. That's why I'm enjoying play on grass.
The win over Arthur Rinderknech pits Alcaraz against Jiri Lehecka, another youngster who doesn't have much experience on grass. They never played before on the ATP Tour and all the advantage goes to Alcaraz as the far better player right now.