"I'm trying to use pressure in my favour" - Alcaraz ahead of Cincinnati

| by Drew Tate

Carlos Alcaraz was adamant earlier in the season that pressure doesn't bother him but he's changed his tone about it recently.

Alcaraz suffered back-to-back losses in finals in Hamburg and Umag and he admitted that he's been finding it difficult to deal with the pressure of being the favourite. He reiterated the same sentiment after Tommy Paul beat him in Montreal last week admitting that the pressure got to him. It's quite different from his comments earlier in the season where he said that pressure doesn't bother him.

Speaking ahead of Cincinnati he admitted he is trying to use it in his favour:

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“Right now, I take each match as a challenge for me to stay the same as always. I am No. 4 in the world, one of the favourites to win this tournament, so it is a bit tough to handle the pressure. But I am training at my best. I am training with the objective to improve and try to produce the game I produced during the clay season and in Miami. It is a challenge for me to be the same.”

He also touched upon what happened in Montreal admitting that he understand exactly what happened:

“I understood everything of what happened in Montreal. I couldn’t handle the pressure to be one of the favourites to win the tournament or be the ranking that I am right now. I come here to train and now show where I am. The kind of player I am means that I am trying to use the pressure in my favour. I know I am playing against the best players in the world, so I am going to try my best.”

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