Carlos Alcaraz says Djokovic is on his mind in almost every practice: “I’m not going to lie.. Novak Djokovic is on my mind almost every practice… I have practice at my best. I have to go at my 100% on every ball to be able to catch him.” Mindset.
Carlos Alcaraz: "Novak Djokovic is on my mind almost every practice", still aiming for year-end No. 1
Tennis NewsThursday, 05 October 2023 at 18:50
Carlos Alcaraz has admitted that his sporting rival Novak Djokovic is constantly on his mind while practicing as he re-stated his aim to overtake the 24-time Grand Slam champion at the top of the ATP Ranking in enough time to be year-end World No. 1.
20-year-old Alcaraz has already had a hugely successful start to his young career. The Spaniard has two Grand Slam titles to his name, the second of which was won after a thrilling five-set final against Djokovic at this year's Wimbledon.
He has also spent much of this year fighting with the Serbian player for the position of World No. 1. Alcaraz last held the top spot between June 26 and September 10, bringing his overall total of time spent as No. 1 to 36 weeks. However, he was overthrown by Djokovic for the fourth time this year at the US Open, where the 36-year-old equaled Margaret Court's record of 24 major titles.
Alcaraz always thinking about how to catch Djokovic
In a recent interview with Tennis TV, Alcaraz was asked about how often Djokovic was on his mind.
"Almost in every practice [laughing] I'm not going to lie," he replied, before adding that he always practices with a goal and that is to be year-end No. 1.
"I practice with a goal, I go to the tournaments with a goal, it's trying to end the year as World number 1. So, Novak Djokovic is around my mind almost in every practice," he continued.
Alcaraz was then asked by the interviewer, "And what do you think when he [Djokovic] is on your mind?"
"I have to practice at my best. I have to go 100 percent in every ball to be able to catch him," he said.
Alcaraz competed for the first time since his US Open semi-final defeat at the ATP 500 China Open this week, where he defeated Yannick Hanfmann, Lorenzo Musetti, and Casper Ruud before losing to Jannik Sinner in the semi-final. The World No. 2 will now take part in the ATP Shanghai Masters, where he will be aiming to win the tournament in order to secure as many ranking points as possible.
Meanwhile, Djokovic opted to skip these events after a packed summer schedule, meaning that Alcaraz has some time to make up ground on the Asian Swing.
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