"I won't play against him anymore," Alcaraz's amusing anecdote about Murray
Carlos Alcaraz is through to the Wimbledon quarterfinals. The Spaniard, a two-time defending champion in London, can still dream of a three-peat and is now just three wins away from achieving the feat.
Set to face Cameron Norrie on Centre Court this Tuesday, the 22-year-old will need to iron out his inconsistency in the early rounds of Grand Slams and raise his level as the tournament reaches its climax.
Against Andrey Rublev in the previous round, he conceded his fourth set of the tournament after being pushed to a perilous fifth set against Fognini in his opener and dropping a set to Struff in the third round.
Incidentally, after the match against the German, Alcaraz was asked on court about a completely different topic—his golf outings with Andy Murray. For several days, the two have been exchanging messages on social media and have faced off twice on the greens.
They were tied after the first two matches (1-1). But the decider did take place, and Alcaraz had to admit that it was indeed the Scot who won their third showdown, much to the delight of the spectators who watched his match against Rublev.
"Andy (Murray) said we played golf in the last few hours? I don’t remember playing a match yesterday (Saturday)! But yes, I have to say he beat me. It wouldn’t have been a good look for him if I’d won. I let him have it.
I’ve lost to him as a tennis player, as a coach, on the golf course… I won’t play against him anymore," Alcaraz joked to the Wimbledon media.
In head-to-head meetings, Andy Murray, retired for a year now, and Carlos Alcaraz have faced off twice on the ATP Tour. The Scot defeated the Spaniard at the 2021 Indian Wells Masters, before the current world No. 2 got his revenge a few weeks later at the Vienna tournament.
