ALCARAZ Send Messages To NovakbDjokovic as he Wants Him To…

World’s Top 2 players clash Saturday in Nitto ATP Finals semis-finals at Pala
Alpitour

The transformation from Monday to Friday has been spectacular. Carlos Alcaraz
has gone from
being ‘mentally exhausted’ after his loss toAlexander Zverev
, to
reaching the semi-finals of theNitto ATP Finals
by
consecutively sinkingAndrey Rublev
and Daniil
Medvedev .
The Spaniard will now clash withNovak Djokovic
on Saturday
in the semi-finals after a turnaround that means he can aspire to go all the
way at Turin’s Pala Alpitour.

So, what exactly happened?

“I spoke to Juan Carlos [Ferrero] after the first match,” admitted Alcaraz.
“Obviously, something was up. In the last tournaments, the people closest to
me, and even those that don’t know me so well, could see that I didn’t have the
same attitude as at the start of the season. It’s not a question of being tired
or not, it’s about enjoying myself.

“Juan Carlos opened my eyes. This is the last tournament of the year and I
have to give everything I have. We’re at the [Nitto] ATP Finals. We also spoke
about the level and what I had to do. Once again, I realised that my game
depends on whether or not I enjoy myself, whether or not I smile. At the end of
the day, that’s the most important thing for me. Obviously, the joy and the
smile have returned to my game and I think that was reflected in the matches.”

On Saturday, the two-time Grand Slam champion will have to enjoy himself,
smile, and possibly do even more when he squares off against Djokovic for the
fourth time this season (2-2 in their Lexus ATP Head2Head series). In 2023, the
Serbian won their first battle in the semi-finals ofRoland Garros
, Alcaraz
returned the favour in theWimbledon
final, and
Djokovic reaped his revenge in the decider at theWestern & Southern Open
in Cincinnati.

“Hopefully it’ll be a repeat of what happened in the Wimbledon
final,” said
the Spaniard. “I’m going to try and find my A-game. We’ll see what I did well
in order to repeat it tomorrow. It’ll be a very mental game, and I want to
start preparing tonight.

“I hope that Novak plays at a great level, his A-game. We’re in the semis of
the ATP Finals, a tournament he has won six times. He knows what it is to play
in these rounds at events like this. I think that he’ll use that experience
tomorrow and he’ll play his best tennis. He’ll try to pressure me a lot in the
match, basically, he’ll be true to his style. So we’re going to have to be
ready for that.”

Alcaraz has gone from saying that he could not see himself winning a single
match in the tournament after losing to Zverev on day one, to declaring, having
taken out Rublev, he believed he could go all the way at the season’s grand
finale.

“After my level the last couple of days, your mind starts thinking things,”
said Alcaraz. “Right now, I think if I continue at this level, I’ll have a
chance of winning the tournament.”