Alcaraz, happy and looking forward to facing Sinner: "It's one of the toughest challenges we'll face".
Carlos Alcaraz is having a very successful tournament at Roland Garros. He has been struggling with a forearm problem since the start of the clay-court season, and has now arrived in Paris. Despite an average first outing, notably in the second round (victory over De Jong, ranked 176th, 6-3, 6-4, 2-6, 6-2), he quickly found his feet.
Against an excellent Tsitsipas in the quarter-finals, he played his best match of the tournament, giving the disillusioned Greek no chance (6-3, 7-6, 6-4).
Questioned in the press conference, the Spaniard first looked back on his qualification, a source of obvious satisfaction: "I'm happy to be in the semi-finals again, here at Roland-Garros. It's always something special to play in a Grand Slam semi-final."
Turning to his future opponent, the man who has been doing so well this year, a certain Jannik Sinner, the world number 3 was not only motivated, but also highly complimentary: "Playing Jannik (Sinner) is a very tough challenge, but I'm ready to take it on. Facing him is like running a marathon on both sides of the court. He doesn't make any bad moves.
Everything he does, he does perfectly well. His shot quality is incredible, and he moves extremely well too. On every ball, every point, he pushes you to your limits.
It's very difficult, but at the same time, I love it. I love this type of match, this type of challenge where you have to fight for every point. The matches we've played in the past have been like that, and I've really enjoyed it. I like having to find solutions, to find a way of beating him.
Like in Indian Wells, where I lost the first set 6-1, before finding a way to put him to the sword (Alcaraz won the tournament semi-finals 1-6, 6-3, 6-2). It's a great situation, in tennis, to try to find the right solution."
Returning to his ambitions, 'Carlito' didn't hesitate to place himself in the role of outsider: "I'll probably be a little more nervous before the match. It's one of the toughest challenges for me today. He's the best player in the world, he's even the world number 1 now, so I can't be considered the favorite.
The only time I've seen him struggle in this tournament was in the first set against Moutet. After that, he was able to raise his game and play some incredible tennis.
It's really going to be an interesting match. As soon as the draw was made, I think everyone wanted to see this match and I'm really looking forward to playing it."
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