Carlos Alcaraz reached the 3rd round of the Australian Open 2024 after beating Lorenzo Sonego. It wasn’t an easy match for the Spaniard, who had never won before today against the Italian tennis player. At the press conference, Carlitos shared his feelings with the media, also praising his rival’s tennis.
“I’m satisfied with today’s performance. We both played great, expressing a high level of play. There was a lot of intensity. The conditions were not favourable. It was windy, then the sun was annoying on one side. It wasn’t easy to play at my best.
The second set was very close. I had my chances, but he deserved to take it home. I’m happy with how I reacted. I just stood there with my head. We both played some great points. He’s playing great, I’ll watch some of his games to get to know him better.”
Carlitos dwelt at length on his next opponent, Shang, who bested Negal in his match: “I don’t know him much. I saw some of his matches. I know he’s playing well. I followed his journey in Hong Kong. He beat some greats. I have to be very, very focused on the match. I have to put my best game forward if I want to beat him.
I think it will be a fun match to play. It will be the first time we face each other. I never even trained with him. Obviously I will watch his matches, I don’t know if from Hong Kong or the last ones he played, to get to know his game a little better. But from what I’ve seen he’s an incredible player. I will prepare myself as best I can for this match.”
Alcaraz and Sonego© Cameron Spencer / Staff Getty Images Sport
Lorenzo Sonego’s words
Carlos Alcaraz’s compliments give a good idea and give fans a faithful image of Lorenzo Sonego’s performance. The Italian gave everything he had and fought, but he surrendered in four sets to the world number two in the second round.
“I had fun, when I leave the pitch with the awareness of having given everything I’m always happy. “I’m happy with the performance. At the beginning we struggled to find the rhythm, there were few exchanges because the conditions were very fast, the ball flew away and it was difficult to respond. Then as we progressed we got more into the heart of the game, the level raised a lot and we gave life to a great match.
He is impressive: he attacks you in response and immediately puts you in difficulty. In the last few games I have shown that I can play at a very high level. These matches help me see what I’m missing and where I can improve. I have a lot of margins,” he said at the press conference.
Sonego finally announced that he will take part in the tournaments in Rotterdam, Doha and Dubai after the experience he had in Melbourne. Alcaraz, for his part, will continue his journey at the Australian Open and will find in the third round the wild card Juncheng Shang: 18 year old Chinese who is showing off at the start of the season.
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