Alcaraz: “I saw myself beaten” against Taylor Fritz

“I saw myself beaten,” Carlos Alcaraz admitted after his quarter-final against Taylor Fritz at the Paris Masters 1000. Facing defeat, the Spaniard eventually turned the match around by saving two match points. He considers the win “one of the most important victories” of his career, as well as one of his most special matches: “I will remember it for a long time.”

Alcaraz said the match had slipped away from him at times. When he served for the first set, he felt nervous and lost control of the match. Fritz, he explained, then became more solid from the baseline. Alcaraz, meanwhile, found it harder to earn easy points on his serve and to take charge of rallies. He also regretted some decisions in the tie-break, where he felt he had failed to make the most of his chances.

The turning point came when he saved the match points. Alcaraz said he then began to enjoy the tennis, hitting strong serves and spectacular shots. He also tried to draw on the crowd’s energy and give them an entertaining match. “From then on, I enjoyed every second, every point,” he said, describing the shift in mindset as decisive.

Even when he thought he was beaten, he could also see a way back. To save the match points, he produced several passing shots that he called impressive. He said he had accepted the risk: it was better to try what was needed, even if he lost, than to leave the court regretting that he had not played more aggressively.

The comeback has also left him with something to examine. Alcaraz wants to understand what caused his nerves in the first set, and to hold on to the lesson he says he found during the match: focus on enjoying the game. “Win or lose, it is still a game,” he said. He aims to have fun, play as well as he can and entertain the crowd in every match.