Carlos Alcaraz shared his secret preparation that he believes will help him retain the Wimbledon title.
Alcaraz has been in London for almost two weeks, playing and practicing on grass. Shortly after he captured his Roland Garros title in Paris, the Spaniard went to Queen's, where he played his first warm-up tournament before Wimbledon.
But in the second round, he suffered a shock early exit in West Kensington to the in-form British left-hander Jack Draper. The defeat sent Alcaraz down to World No. 3 in the ATP rankings, which meant he was the number three seed in the Wimbledon draw, which was released on Friday.
He is in the same half as World No. 1 Jannik Sinner, and we might see a potential semifinal showdown between them for the second Grand Slam tournament in a row. Alcaraz won their duel in five sets at the French Open earlier this month.
The 21-year-old was interviewed during an event organized by Babolat, where he assessed his preparations for the tournament and how he feels health-wise after recovering from the forearm injury that scuppered his plans on clay courts.
"It’s special to be here as the defending champion, I’m trying to be really focused, take myself away from those emotions, not thinking about last year’s run, so I can do it again.
"I feel free in my game, with my forehand at one hundred percent, I don’t think about those injuries that made me have a bad time during the clay tour."
Only five men in the Open Era have won the French Open and Wimbledon in the same calendar year. At 21, Alcaraz will attempt to join Rod Laver, Bjorn Borg, Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer, and Novak Djokovic in this exclusive club in the next two weeks. He will open against Estonian qualifier Mark Lajal on Monday.
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