Although he bested Novak Djokovic in the Wimbledon Championships final last year, Carlos Alcaraz still expects some nerves in this year’s final.
The Spaniard just recently won Roland Garros, and while he didn’t look fully in control in all matches, he still looked comfortable in most of them. Reflecting on the run after his win over Daniil Medvedev in the semi-final at SW19, Alcaraz admitted that he felt quite a bit nervous during his stay in Paris, something he didn’t openly talk about during the event.
It’s normal for such a young player to feel nervous because, after all, it’s not the first time he’s dealt with nerves. He’s admitted to sometimes battling nerves, and the stakes were pretty high in Paris, so feeling the pressure a little bit is fine, especially as he dealt with it.
“At Roland Garros maybe I didn’t talk about the nerves, although they were obviously there. Maybe I controlled them a little better at that tournament, except in the final… They affected me a bit there, above all in the first sets.”
The same thing has been happening at Wimbledon because it’s the biggest tennis event in the world. Playing on the Centre Court is a nervous experience for many, and being the defending champion certainly adds more pressure to it.
Alcaraz has dealt well with it, but obviously, the most important match will be the final against Novak Djokovic, in which he expects to be nervous again.
“Wimbledon, playing on Centre Court, it makes me a little more nervous because of everything it means; because of the way I see the tournament and the Centre Court, maybe differently to how I see others.”
“It’s something we’re working on: obviously nerves are very good and very necessary if they are under control, but when you lose control of them a bit, or you don’t know how to manage them, they work against you.”
