“I ran from school to see Roland Garros”

This was in May 2015 when Carlos Alcaraz visited Paris for the first time, the premiere of which took place at Roland Garros. He was only 12 years old. As the champion of the junior tournament in Spain, he was invited to the Longines Future Tennis Aces tournament, the unofficial Roland Garros under-13 tournament, and together with one of his first coaches Carlos Santoslived the full experience: played on the courts located at the foot of the Eiffel Tower, met Philippe Chatrier and was able to see victory Novak Djokovic in view of Rafael Nadal on giant screens installed in Campo de Marte. They then lost to Chinese opponents in the semi-finals. Xiaofei Wangwho just won Holger Runa and this led him to despair: Alcaraz, unusual for him, came to argue with the judge on the tower. So I already dreamed of winning Roland Garros one day, the real Roland Garros. This Sunday (14:30, Eurosport) in the final against Alexander Zverev You will have the first opportunity to fulfill this desire.

“It was the only time I came to Paris before my debut at a big tournament (in 2020 it fell in qualifying). It was very pleasant: playing under the Eiffel Tower, experiencing the experience of an international match… I remember, for example, the meeting with Holger. “I have very good memories,” explains Alcaraz, who has never hidden the importance of Rafa Nadal in his training and therefore the influence of the Paris Grand Slam.

“I always had a special feeling about this tournament, that’s understandable. When I was little, I would run out of class to turn on the TV and watch Roland Garros. It coincided very well by the hour, the course was already ending… I saw a lot of games. Of course, I always saw Rafa and many others,” recalls the current world number three, who, although previously triumphant at the US Open and Wimbledon, is eager to finally add his name to the list of champions that adorns Philippe Chatrier. “1925. Rene Lacoste” can be read on the outer walls, and the listing continues until a moment comes when it seems stuck. “2005. Rafa Nadal” begins, and then, you know, half the stadium is painted with the same name.

Those matches in Tarbes

“His dream was always to win Roland Garros. “He grew up watching Rafa, around him we always had Roland Garros in our mouths, and what’s more, at his club we only had clay courts,” he recalls. Kiko NavarroAlcaraz’s teenage coach, along with Campos himself, who guided his steps before his current coach, Juan Carlos Ferrero. The Spaniard’s former coach notes an interesting detail. Although his game adapts to any surface, until the age of 14 or 15 he hardly practiced on cement, let alone grass. So all that was left at El Palmar Country Club was dirt.

“We had 13 tracks and they were all dirt. Then with his great uncle Paco We managed to turn one of them into a fast track. I think that’s why he never did very well in Le Petits As,” Navarro analyzes and names another French tournament that Alcaraz encountered during his preparation. Every January in Tarbes, near Pau and the Pyrenees, a kind of unofficial World Under-14 Championship, and the Spaniard was there twice, in 2016 and 2017. The first time he won only one game, and the second time he won three. “Training on land hurt him then,” concludes the former Alcaraz coach. “, remembering his childhood aspirations.

Drawings with a trophy

At the Spanish Under-10 Championships, he was interviewed for the first time in his life and admitted that Roland Garros was his greatest wish. Then two years later, with more matches watched, in another interview he added Wimbledon to the equation. “Yes, yes, in the first interviews I talked about Roland Garros,” he says. Josephine Cutillas, a psychologist who helped Alcaraz in his endeavors, from 8 to 16 years old, told an anecdote: the current tennis player drew and depicted himself lifting the Musketeers Cup. Cutillas is saving some of these paintings for history, although he assures that they will not see the light of day unless the tennis player directly asks for it. You may never need to: this Sunday you can turn these drawings into reality.

Opposite is Zverev, a tennis player to whom he has lost more matches (five) than he has won (four), but who has given way to him in recent months. In the quarterfinals of the last Masters 1000 in Indian Wells, Alcaraz won 6-3 to 6-1. The German’s weapons to victory at Roland Garros include his aggressive serve, the power of his backhand and his desire to finally win a Grand Slam at the age of 27. Among the Spaniard’s arguments are all the existing tennis resources, a physique capable of withstanding a maximum of five sets and, above all, a childhood dream.