Carlos Alcaraz started his 2024 Roland Garros campaign with a win over J.J. Wolf and he expressed his happiness about the good start.
Considered one of the best clay players in the world, Alcaraz entered this year's Roland Garros without too many matches. Last year, the Spanish player had plenty of matches ahead of the clay major including a few trophies.
This year, he entered without any trophies and only with four matches. Did it prove a problem? Not really, but he was a bit lucky with the draw, as he got J.J. Wolf, a player who never played well on the red dirt.
The American was a good sport and fought to the best of his ability, but he was no match for Alcaraz, who cruised in three sets.
After the match, he expressed satisfaction about being back in Paris after a pretty difficult month, which mostly revolved around rehab, commonly known as the non-fun part of being a tennis player.
"I’m really happy to be back here in Paris and competing again. It’s been a difficult month for me. I love competing… I love playing tennis. To stay away from that was hurting me. I tried everything I could to be at my 100% here in Roland Garros to show my bear. I think I did it today. I’m really, really happy to show good tennis again."
The Spaniard was asked about not having played a lot of matches ahead of this year's Roland Garros, and he admitted that he would have loved to play more matches, but ultimately, he doesn't think it's a huge disadvantage.
He actually admitted that before, and he might be right; however, the ultimate proof will be how he plays his following match.
"I would’ve loved to play more matches, but I don’t think I need many matches to get to 100%. Four matches is too low. I’m not gonna lie. But I did really good preparation the last two weeks before coming here."
"I practiced this week with top players. I felt really good moving and hitting the balls. My forearm is getting better and better. As I said, I feel like I didn’t stop playing. It’s a really good point for me."