Carlos Alcaraz cruised past Felix Auger-Aliassime to reach the 2024 Paris Olympics final, and after the match, the Spaniard issued a very confident statement about winning the gold.
The Spaniard has been showing an increased level of confidence in recent weeks, and with the way he has been playing, can you really blame him? He's been the best player in the world for about two months, and by a wide margin as well.
None of the other players played close to his level, and that's why he won the Roland Garros. It's also why he won Wimbledon as comfortably as he did, with the final win over Novak Djokovic being the most impressive part of that run.
His performances in Paris have also been special, including the last few matches, where he showed that beating some of the better players easily is certainly not out of the question.
With performances like that and just his general confidence, it's expected of him to be so confident ahead of the final, as he showed before that he's not afraid to show his huge confidence.
"I'm going to try to do the things I've been doing, nothing more, nothing less. In the end, it's a final, it's a very important moment in my life and my career, and for all Spaniards as well. We're going to try not to think about how important it is, but to think that it's just another match."
"Obviously, our goal at the beginning of the week and our goal at the beginning of the year was to get gold, not just a medal, but gold: we've got the medal guaranteed, so we're going to try to enjoy this final, because it's going to be a very nice moment for many people, for my team, for my family, for me in my life, so we're going to try to go for it."
The Spaniard knows that he will have many Spaniards tuning in to watch his final match and speaking after his semi-final win over Auger-Aliassime, he promised them to deliver on his promise.
"They should prepare themselves for the show I'm going to give them (laughs). I don't know, I just hope they're cheering me on, I'm very grateful to the people in the stadium who have come here to Paris to cheer me on, they are a very important support for me in this tournament."
"I thank the people at home, who are very many Spanish people, for their support. They should be on television, cheering me on at every point, with me: I'm going to give them what they want, which is gold."
Djokovic certainly won't be an easy opponent for Alcaraz because the Serbian has also played at a very high level in Paris. Some things are going against him, including the knee issue that flared up again against Stefanos Tsitsipas.
If the knee issue persists against Alcaraz, he will be in a very tough spot. If he doesn't play his best, it will significantly decrease his chances because he will need the best possible performance to challenge Alcaraz, and even then, it might not be enough.
It will depend on many factors, including Alcaraz and his comfort level. Ultimately, he must back up his words with his play on the court.
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