Alcaraz: “It’s a shame that McEnroe beat me by one match”

Smiling and protected by a black windbreaker to alleviate the freezing temperature of the main conference room at the US Open, Carlos Alcaraz addressed the media after winning his first round game against 186th-ranked Li Tu 6-2, 4-6, 6-3, 6-1 in a contest that lasted almost three hours.

It brought up the Spaniard’s 60th win at Grand Slam level - an achievement he has reached in 70 games. Only one player in history has managed to do it quicker during the Open era - and only just. John McEnroe reached the mark in 69 games.

Carlos will face 2021 quarter-finalist Botic van de Zandschulp in the second round. He has faced the Dutch player twice - at the 2021 Australian Open and at the Swiss Indoors the following year, winning both games (6-1 6-4 6-4 and 6-4 6-2 respectively).

After the game, he spoke to the press.

Feelings on reaching 60 Grand Slam wins in 70 matches: “I hadn’t seen that statistic but obviously I’m very pleased to hear about it. We try to be better to win the match, to give ourselves the opportunity to reach some finals in each tournament, especially in the Grand Slams. It’s a shame that McEnroe beat me by one match! (smiles). For me it’s an honur to be able to share these kinds of statistics with great legends of the sport. Now I am on 60, and when I get to 70, then we’ll go for 80. And so we’ll try to achieve as many victories as possible.”

Second set: “It’s something I’ve said many times that I have to improve. The issue of disconnections. I came out in the first set very focused, plugged in and knowing what I had to do at all times. And obviously he didn’t play as well as he usually does. That made everything go smoothly. Then I made a lot of mistakes. I was a bit nervous and he raised his level. I made a lot of mistakes that weren’t right. I looked at the statistics and I made two unforced ones in the first set and went up to 18 in the second.

“That’s why it got away from me. These are things that I have to keep improving, so that these kinds of disconnections don’t happen, so that I don’t allow myself to make so many mistakes without knowing why. But in general, the truth is that I’m happy with the level, with the way I hit the ball, with the way I moved, with good feelings, except for those little things.”

Now 15 consecutive wins at majors: “I hadn’t really thought about it. But anyway, we’re going to try to keep the streak going, to keep the streak going as I said before. That’s what we’re working towards, to try to win as many matches as possible, to play our best, especially at the Grand Slams, to try to be better and really give ourselves the opportunity to be in the final rounds of each tournament.”

Van de Zandschulp: “Let’s see, I know he’s a very dangerous player. He has great shots. He was in a pretty good moment a while ago and maybe this last year or these last few months he hasn’t been playing his best tennis. You can see that in the results. But the fact that he beat Shapovalov like that indicates that he’s doing well. He’s capable of anything, so we’re going to have to be focused on every point and try to improve what we did wrong in this match.”