“We did it in the first game and they got lucky.”

“Who scored? Shut up, shut up, it’s better for me not to tell,” he demanded. Carlos Alcaraz this Tuesday. Press conference after the victory in the quarterfinals of Wimbledon over Tommy Paul It was strange, very strange, perhaps the strangest thing in his career. He was being asked questions by the international media, L’Equipe, The Athletic, and he was looking at the Spanish journalists who were watching the semi-final of the European Cup between Spain and France on their computers. If there was calm among the editors, the world number three answered calmly, but if there was a murmur, he tried to guess what had happened.

In one of his first answers he noted Colo Muani and it was in the last one that he tied Lamin Yamal. When Dani Olmo The comeback was a highlight, he was already leaving the London Grand Slam venues. “I have to admit that in the last set of the match, when I already felt I was dominating, I was thinking about finishing faster so I could go watch football,” Alcaraz admitted, beaming and full of joy. All is going well.

At the All England Club he triumphs on his way to his second title in a row. Daniil Medvedev as the penultimate hurdle next Friday in the semi-finals, and in Germany his friends will do the same. Because Alcaraz has close relationships with several components of the team, such as Pedri or Ferran Torreswith whom he has been seen at parties and is a close friend Alvaro

The so-called talisman

In fact, these days the two are in constant communication, to the point that on Tuesday Morata sent Alcaraz via WhatsApp a photo of him watching his quarter-final against Tommy Paul before jumping to warm up on the grass of the Allianz Arena. “This morning I called Alvaro to wish him luck. I did it before Spain’s debut in the European Cup, it worked and now we always talk on match days,” explained Alcaraz, who has always admitted that he is not an exaggerated football fan and that he became Real Madrid to bother some of his relatives, very nerdy ones.

Away from football, Alcaraz was somewhat quick to assess his achievements on the court: his sixth Grand Slam semi-final, two US Opens, two Roland Garros and now two Wimbledons. “Because there are so many semi-finals, I think it puts pressure on my opponents. They know they have to do great things to beat me at a Grand Slam,” commented the Spaniard, who will face the same opponent he faced at last year’s Grand Slam in his penultimate match before celebrating his first title in London.

So the match was easy, a win in three sets. This time, Alcaraz is the favorite again: “Most of the games depend on me, and that’s very good. In good and bad, they depend on me. Daniil is like a wall, he reaches all the balls.”