“For me, it's tricky not having gone farther than quarter-finals”: Alcaraz explains why he hasn’t gone further at the Australian Open

The world No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz began his Australian Open campaign with a solid victory over local wildcard Adam Walton. The Spaniard did not face major trouble, although he came up against a particularly effective opponent who managed to challenge him for large stretches of the match. Despite that, the final scoreline was a convincing 6-3, 7-6(2), 6-2 in his favour.

It was Alcaraz’s first official match of the season, having played only a couple of exhibition matches in the lead-up to the first Major of the year and choosing not to compete in any warm-up tournaments. A week earlier, he had been in Korea to face Jannik Sinner in an exhibition match, while a few days later he joined the Australian Open Fan Week events, taking on Alex de Minaur.

After just over two hours on court, Alcaraz faced the media, where he admitted he was surprised by the level shown by his first-round opponent. “To be honest, I was ready for a good battle, but at the same time, a little bit unexpected for me, the level he played,” he said in press conference. “So I had to manage myself to be ready for that battle. I'm just happy with the first level of the first match of the season.”

However, the lack of competitive rhythm heading into the tournament is something exhibitions cannot fully replicate, and Alcaraz acknowledged that this is the most difficult aspect to adjust to at the start of the year. “Well, above all, the competition rhythm. The competition rhythm is what costs the most,” commented the six-time Grand Slam champion. “The fact of feeling those nerves of being in an official competition, of being at a Grand Slam, that’s something you can’t really put into practice in training sessions or even in exhibition matches.”

Alcaraz is hoping to improve on his results from previous years at the Australian Open, the Grand Slam that has proven the most challenging for him so far. He has ‘only’ recorded 11 victories across four appearances — less than half of what he has achieved at each of the other Majors — and his best result has been reaching the quarter-finals on two occasions. By contrast, at the other Slams he owns two titles at each and at least one additional deep run (semi-finals or final).

“Well, for me, it's tricky not having gone farther than quarter-finals here in Australia, because I feel like I'm playing good tennis here,” said the Spaniard. “The last two years, I've been playing really good tennis. But in quarter-final, I just lost against Zverev and lost against Djokovic.”

“I think it's unusual players you play against in quarter-final if you are one or two in the world, but it isn't an excuse,” the 22-year-old added. “I just really want to perform better than I did previous years. So I just feel this year probably is one of those years that I will be able to, or I will have the chance to go farther.”

After answering several questions in English, Alcaraz took the time to share some of his thoughts in Spanish, with one of the main topics being his work with coach Samuel Lopez following his split with Juan Carlos Ferrero. Lopez began working with Alcaraz at the start of 2024, initially serving as a co-coach alongside Ferrero.

Following the departure of the former French Open champion, Alcaraz chose to keep Lopez as his main coach and, for now, not add another coach to his team. The Spaniard was full of praise for Lopez — former coach of Pablo Carreño Busta — and sought to explain the difference between being coached by a former top player and by other types of coaches.

“Samuel, not having been world No. 1, not having been a professional tennis player at the very top, maybe doesn’t get the recognition he deserves,” said the six-time Grand Slam champion. “Even now, when many people want to put former professional players as my main coach, it doesn’t seem entirely fair to me, because for me Samuel is one of the best, if not the best coach in the world right now.”

“I think he deserves recognition because he gives you things that maybe no former-player coach today can give you.”