Carlos Alcaraz failed to overcome Novak Djokovic in the championship game of the 2023 Roland Garros after some stellar performances throughout the tournament. However, the young Spanish tennis sensation later ended up winning the following Grand Slam event, Wimbledon, where he also exacted revenge on his fierce Serbian rival in a thrilling five-set finale. Reflecting on his previous season’s heroics, Alcaraz recently opened up about how his French Open defeat against Djokovic fueled him to win the grass-court major title.
The 20-year-old player appears to have perfected the knack of using failure as motivation, according to his recent disclosures. In an honest conversation, Alcaraz talked about how he strives for ‘improvement’ after facing ‘ups and downs’ in his competitive journey.
“I’m a boy who tries not to trip over the same stone twice”- Carlos Alcaraz on his French Open defeat against Novak Djokovic
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In view of his Wimbledon turnaround, the young Spaniard was asked how he ‘managed changes’ after facing setbacks like his French Open final defeat. The reporter asked, “How do you manage changes? How do you get on the road to be ready to digest disappointment or to empower yourself for what is coming? “
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In a recent press conference at the Argentina Open, Carlos Alcaraz said, “Well, I’m a boy who tries not to trip over the same stone twice, tries to learn from the mistakes that he made. It has happened to me and to try to improve I already said it, I remember perfectly in the press conference after that semifinal match of Rolland Garros that If I came back to myself, well, I was going to be in the same situation it was not going to happen to me, the same thing was going to improve.”
Shedding light on failures on the court, the 2-time singles Grand Slam champion revealed how he always tries to make improvements in training sessions and matches. He stated, “I think I won, I did it, I improved, it is by improving. Obviously, there are many games, there are many difficult moments, many many ups and downs and you can stumble again but we try to make sure that it doesn’t happen, we try to improve every day in each training session, in each game to grow, ‘Let Carlos be little more mature, a little bit older, and learn from those moments from Roland Garros to Wimbledon.'”
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What do you think of the young Spanish tennis sensation’s secret sauce to his triumphs on the court? Let us know in the comments section.