Alcaraz calls playing with Nadal ’something I will never forget’

Carlos Alcaraz returns to the Cincinnati Open one year on from a memorable championship match here against Novak Djokovic, which he lost in a gruelling three hours and 49 minutes. This time, he has more experience in his back pocket. The Spaniard brings with him to Mason priceless experience from the Paris Olympics, where he partnered Rafael Nadal in the men’s doubles. The pair lost in the quarter-finals to eventual silver medalists Austin Krajicek and Rajeev Ram of the United States.

“It was a great experience, talking with Rafa off the court, knowing each other much better off the court. It was a great experience, obviously, playing doubles together. It was great,” Alcaraz said during his press conference Sunday in Cincinnati. “It was something that I will never forget, for sure. I learned a lot talking to him on court, off the court as well. I think we played a great tennis in doubles, even if we are not used to playing doubles very often.

“A little bit disappointing at the end, because we thought that we could do it better, but in general, we were happy. And obviously talking about myself, I reached my dream, my dream came true, playing doubles alongside Rafa.” Nadal has earned countless accolades in his career. The 38-year-old has spent 209 weeks at No. 1 in the PIF ATP Rankings, won 22 major titles and 36 ATP Masters 1000 trophies. Alcaraz was able to pick his countryman’s brain in Paris to learn from all of his experiences. What advice from Nadal helped him the most?

“How to deal with some situations playing doubles. Sometimes when we were down, he was there in a positive way, talking to me like, ‘Well, right now they are going to feel [it] with the pressure. We have to just stay there, put some balls in, try to get them in trouble’,” Alcaraz said. “Some situations, some things that you probably don’t see, or is difficult to see, he sees very, very clear and off the court, how to prepare the difficult situations or the matches. It [was] a master class.”

Alcaraz claimed the silver medal in singles, losing the gold-medal match in two tie-breaks to Djokovic. The winner of Roland Garros and Wimbledon this year, Alcaraz is hungry to learn from that defeat to continue challenging for and winning the biggest tournaments. In Cincinnati, the second seed can complete the full set of American Masters 1000 titles, having already triumphed at Indian Wells and Miami.

“I always want to be better. I always think that I could do it better. Obviously, I had a great summer: Roland Garros, Wimbledon, silver in the Olympics. Obviously, I wanted the gold medal,” Alcaraz said. “After the matches, if I win or I lose, I like to find the bad things that I did in the matches, try to be better, try to in the next match not make the same mistakes in the shots or dealing with some situations. And that’s what happened. “That’s what I saw in the final in Paris, that I couldn’t deal with the situations as good as I wanted, and that’s what I was thinking after the match, just to be better, and probably being harder on myself.”