Carlos Alcaraz won Indian Wells last week (Image: Getty)
Carlos Alcaraz has admitted to watching videos of Andy Murray and Roger Federer in a bid to improve his grass game as he enters the quarter-finals of the Queen’s Club Championships.
Top seed Alcaraz has a lot of expectation on his shoulders and although the 20-year-old Spanish sensation continues to impress, he is clearly still coming to terms with his timing and movement on the grass.
However, he saw vast improvements in his comfortable 6-2 6-3 victory over Jiri Lehecka after a laboured first-round win over Arthur Rinderknech.
With much still to learn about his grass game, Alcaraz has turned to the likes of Murray and Federer to improve and aid his game moving forward, learning from the “best” there is.
Carlos Alcaraz looking at home on the grass 🌱🏠 as he reaches his first #cinchChampionships quarter-final pic.twitter.com/ofHzXJh94Q
— cinch Championships (@QueensTennis) June 22, 2023
“I watch some videos about my opponents first, and then, you know, I have a lot of time to watch videos, to learn from the best players in the world, Andy, Roger, Djokovic,” said Alcaraz.
“You know, right now we are on grass, and I want to, you know, look up to the best players on grass and movers.
“You know, on grass, Roger and Andy for me are the best players that are moving great on grass. So, I want to be the same, you know, like them.
“I’m not talking about Djokovic because Djokovic slides like clay court, and not my case, but I try to put similar stuff in my game that Roger and Andy do in grass.”
Although now through to the quarter-finals at the Queen’s Club, Alcaraz insisted his focus remains on gaining more experience ahead of Wimbledon rather than taking home the win.
“To be honest, at this tournament that’s not the case (of feeling among the main candidates to win),” he added.
“My target when I joined the tournament it was to gain more experience, keep training on grass with good players, and then play some tennis.
“In my head, I wasn’t thinking about winning the tournament. Obviously, every time I am playing in a tournament, I want to win it, but my main target was to keep feeling better and continue gaining experience towards Wimbledon.
“But now that I am in the quarter-finals I want to win the tournament, but as I am not putting myself among the favourites the pressure is less, so I can play more relaxed and happy.”
Alcaraz is pursuing more than his first grass-court title this week. If he triumphs at Queen’s Club he will reclaim the world No 1 spot in the ATP Rankings from Novak Djokovic on Monday.
