“My dream is to win Roland Garros and Wimbledon” | Relief

Paris.-Many years ago they were installed at the foot of the Eiffel Tower to Roland Garros a couple of clay courts. This was done to popularize the tournament and to hold a Grand Slam in France in the first week a junior tournament with the world’s greatest promise. The 2015 edition combined two players who are at the forefront of tennis today: Carlos Alcaraz and Holger Rune.

The two were victims of the same player, a Chinese named Xiaofei Wang, who remained promising (he recently reached No. 524 in the ATP rankings), and They returned home empty-handed. The Dane lost in the quarter-finals and Alcaraz lost in the semi-finals. in the final tiebreaker with scores of 4-1, 1-4 and 7-1.

“In the tiebreaker I saw that he was very nervous. I think he saw variations of this scenario and got very nervous. I haven’t seen him as nervous as he was in the tiebreak for a long time.. “I was kind of blocked,” said the coach who accompanied him on the adventure, Carlos Santos.

Before packing your bags, Tennistopic (which specialized in tennis and disappeared a few years ago) wrote down short interview with Alcaraz, who is now in 2024 and with the Murcian reached the final of Roland Garros.this became a warning. Sitting on a wooden bench, 12-year-old Alcaraz shyly answers a journalist’s questions.

During the 65 seconds that the video lasts, Alcaraz says he is 12 years old, he says what his best win to date is and who was the toughest opponent he played against, and then the baby comes along. “What is your favorite tournament to date?” – they ask him. “Rolad Garros,” he answers shortly. “What would be your dream as a professional?” – they ask him next time. “Win Roland Garros and Wimbledon”. He then says that his idol is Federer, that he loves football and fishing and that he is a good student.

On Friday, beating Jannik Sinner in the semifinals in five sets (2-6, 6-3, 3-6, 6-4 and 6-2), The man from Murcia recalled the trip he took as a 12-year-old to Paris, when he lost in the semi-finals of a junior tournament and when he first set foot in the Roland Garros stadium.. In addition to the invitation to play, tennis players participating in a youth tournament organized by Longines were once able to take to the center court.

“He only came once, when he was 11 or 12 years old, and he came to play in an under-13 tournament. It was a very pleasant moment because PI met a lot of players and I met Holger. I was able to experience playing internationally and saw some great play.“, said the tennis player from El Palmar at a press conference, where he recalled that he loved watching Roland Garros when he was little.

“I remember this I left school and ran home to turn on the TV and watch Roland Garros because the games coincided with the end of school.“Said the former number one. “I watched a lot of matches, of course matches of Rafa Nadal, who dominated the tournament for 14 years. That was incredible. I wanted to add my name to the list of Spaniards who won the tournament., not only Rafa, but also Ferrero, Moya, Costa… players who are legends of our sport. “I want to put my name on this list.”