TENNIS
Who does Carlos Alcaraz play next and when in French Open 2024?
The Spaniard, now into the third round of Roland Garros, spoke about his hard-fought victory against a brilliant De Jong who had him worried at one stage.
In a Grand Slam, there are no bad days – only days of victory or defeat. Nothing else matters. Fortunately for him, Carlos Alcaraz understood this on Wednesday at Roland Garros and overcame a potentially severe lapse in form to defeat Jesper de Jong 6-3, 6-4, 2-6, 6-2 in 3 hours and 9 minutes.
After securing the 175th victory of his career, against the 176th-ranked opponent, Alcaraz will now face the winner of the match between Sebastian Korda and Soonwoo Kwon in the third round on Friday. Their match, halted by relentless rain, was postponed along with all other matches on courts without retractable roofs (only the Philippe Chatrier and Suzanne Lenglen courts have them). The American was leading the Korean 5-4 in the first set when the rain interruption occurred.
Alcaraz progresses in French Open
Now that the initial shock has worn off, Carlos Alcaraz reflected on his victory over a particularly tenacious opponent, speaking on the clay of the Philippe Chatrier court.
De Jong: “In these tournaments, any player can cause you trouble. You have to stay focused in every round, every match, every point. It doesn’t matter that I’m high up in the rankings and playing against someone outside the Top 100. You have to play your best if you want to advance. Jesper showed that ranking doesn’t matter, it’s about the work and the level of play he demonstrated. He has the level to continue like this, and I’m sure he’ll break into the Top 100.”
Adjustments: “In the third set, I realized I had to forget about putting on a show and focus on staying in the rallies. It was tough for me, I was in trouble, but I’m happy I managed to do it in the end. I think we put on a great show with drop shots, volleys... I think he did better than me in that regard.”
More than three hours on court: “I prefer not to spend too much time on the court; I want to be in good shape for the next round. But each match is different, one might last an hour and a half, another three hours. But I prefer to spend as little time as possible on court.”
Fans: “It’s great to have the support of the crowd. Many were cheering for Jesper and others for me, it’s good for the tennis industry to have so many people cheering us on. It was incredible; when I was down in the third set, they were shouting my name, and it was amazing. I get a lot of energy from the crowd. It helped me a lot, thank you and I hope to see you in the next round.”