Will Carlos Alcaraz be the next Rod Laver or Rafael Nadal in sealing Grand Slam triple crown?

Carlos Alcaraz debuted with victory against Li Tu in the first round of the US Open 2024 in a debut somewhat harder than expected. The player from Murcia had to overcome losing the first set and ended up, of course, overcoming his rival. In the second round he will face the Dutch player Botic van de Zandschulp.

He could be the first player aside from Rod Laver and Rafael Nadal to win the triple header of Grand Slams in a year but he isn't thinking about that.

"Well after this interview I’m gonna clear my mind and try to pretend I never heard that obviously it would be a great achievement if I make it. But I have 6 matches ahead. Every round is against a better opponent. It’s gonna be difficult. The slam is 2 weeks. Staying 100% focused every day makes it really tough. So I’m trying to think every day to just try to feel better each day in practice and in matches. Let’s see if I’m still alive in 2 weeks," he said to ESPN.

The player from El Palmar explained to ESPN after the match what happened to him in a second set in which he made many errors (30 unforced errors at the end of the match, a real barbarity) and what he did to overcome them and to get into the second round in New York:

"I had to accept that I lost the second set and I had to clear my mind. I had opportunities in the second set that I didn't take advantage of, but I knew I was playing well, hitting the ball well. It was some mistakes, and I tried not to make the same mistakes in the third set as I did in the second and try to make it harder for him, push him to the limit and be really focused on every ball."

In statements collected by Punto de Break, Alcaraz talked about Novak Djokovic and the great rivalry he has with him: “Obviously we have a good rivalry. Every time we step on the court we play really high level tennis. Every time we faced each other it’s been a really good and intense match. We have really good friendship off court. We talk a lot in the locker room every time we see each other around.. with his team as well. Once we step on court, there are no friends on tour. Outside of the court, I have a really good relationship with a lot of players. One of them is Novak.”