Carlos Alcaraz’s weaknesses are being kept under wraps as the Spaniard homes in on a third successive Wimbledon title. The men’s final will be set up on Friday as Alcaraz’s title defence continues against Taylor Fritz, while seven-time champion Novak Djokovic takes on world No. 1 Jannik Sinner.
Despite such a heavyweight semi-final line-up, few would bet against Alcaraz, who has defeated Djokovic in the last two Wimbledon finals and won 19 matches in a row at the All England Club. While he continues to excel on the grass at SW19, the 22-year-old’s game isn’t perfect, according to his coaches Juan Carlos Ferrero and Samuel Lopez. As the pair faced the media ahead of Alcaraz’s showdown with American Fritz, they were asked where their player could still improve. “There are always small details that can be improved,” said former world No. 1 Ferrero, per Marca.
“We’re not going to reveal them here so that his rivals find out (laughs). I think there are always little things to improve. A forehand, a backhand, defence… small things, but they’re minor adjustments that stay within the team.”
Lopez, who joined Alcaraz’s coaching team at the end of last year, said: “I’ll tell you that he has to keep improving his DNA. And I’ll leave it at that.”
On Alcaraz’s desire to keep improving on grass, Lopez added: “On grass, you focus a bit more because you know if you put a serve in just the right spot, it does a lot of damage. Here, you always tend to evolve a little more. With Carlos, it evolves day by day.”
After a slow start to the tournament, surprisingly being taken to five sets by Italian veteran Fabio Fognini in round one, Alcaraz has moved up through the gears as the fortnight has progressed. Having been blown away by the defending champion in straight sets in the quarter-finals, Cameron Norrie backed Alcaraz for a hat-trick of Wimbledon crowns.
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The Brit said: “It was a good experience to play probably the best player in the world at the moment, most confident player, on his best surface. I think he is the favourite, for sure. His level was unreal. I felt like a lot of the time, if I didn’t do enough with the ball, he was going to punish me with a lot of his different options, with power.
“He’s got the drop [shot] as well available. So I think I was missing a little bit more because I was pressing a bit more than usual, but I think that’s credit to him – his physicality, his movement and power.”