Carlos Alcaraz has powered to within one win of a return to the world No 2 ranking after reaching his first final at the Monte Carlo Masters, with his post-match comments confirming he has been feeling a little extra pressure in recent weeks.<\/p>\n
The 21-year-old Spaniard beat compatriot Alejandro Davidovich Fokina 7-6(2), 6-4 victor to secure his first appearance on finals Sunday at the Monte Carlo Country Club, where he will look to ease past Alexander Zverev to take the No 2 ranking.<\/p>\n
Alcaraz allowed three set points to slip through his fingers in a long first set that lasted just over an hour and he also struggled to get over the winning line, as he needed six match points to reach his 23rd tour-level final.<\/p>\n
That number of finals is remarkable for a player of his tender years and he was in an upbeat mood as he spoke to the fans in Monte Carlo and toasted his first appearance in a Masters 1000 final since Indian Wells in March 2023.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been a long time,\u201d said Alcaraz. \u201cI just had to be patient and believe that this moment was going to come again. Sometimes the people are not patient, they want me to make the final in every tournament. I\u2019m really happy to give them the chance to watch one of my finals again.<\/p>\n
Barcelona Open draw: Carlos Alcaraz and Arthur Fils rematch before final?<\/a><\/p>\n The 12 Spanish men to reach Monte Carlo final in Open Era as Carlos Alcaraz joins list<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cI think I played really good tennis from the beginning until the last point.<\/p>\n \u201cI tried to take the chances he gave me in the match. He saved a lot of break points and match points, but I\u2019m really happy to [have] thought about myself. The most important thing is that I\u2019m feeling great physically.\u201d<\/p>\n Alcaraz also made some interesting comments in his post match press conference, as he admitted the absence of Jannik Sinner over the last few weeks has added to the pressure he has felt to pick up titles.<\/p>\n World No 1 Sinner is currently serving a three-month suspension for a doping violation and is due to return in next month\u2019s Rome Masters.<\/p>\n Alcaraz won the title in Rotterdam in February as he looked to close the rankings points gap on Sinner, but he struggled to find his best form in the Indian Wells and Miami Open tournaments, with Sinner\u2019s absence clearly on his mind.<\/p>\n \u201cSince Jannik hasn\u2019t been able to play tournaments, a lot of people have asked me about it and talked about it, about how important a time it is for me to reach No 1 again or to win tournaments,\u201d said Alcaraz.<\/p>\n \u201cProbably, in a way, I\u2019ve been thinking about it too much instead of playing good tennis and enjoying myself on the court and in the matches. After Miami, I realized the path I have to follow, the things I have to do. I don\u2019t have to think about the results or anything else, I just have to have fun.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s the most important thing for me, and not paying attention to expectations or what people say about you. That\u2019s what I\u2019m trying to do, and I think it\u2019s going well for me so far. Today was the best match I\u2019ve played so far in this tournament. I didn\u2019t let him get in, dominate, and come back. I showed my good tennis throughout the match.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m happy to have reached this level, but I think I can do better. At the beginning of the week, with the first clay-court tournament, you focus on adapting to the conditions. The ball comes to you differently, the game on clay is different. Once I\u2019ve reached this level, I have to keep improving and, if possible, raise it in the final.\u201d<\/p>\n Sinner may not be playing in Monte Carlo, but his shadow is hanging over Alcaraz before their rivalry is renewed at some point during this already compelling European clay court season.<\/p>\n READ NEXT: Monte Carlo Masters prize money increased for this year\u2019s champion<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n The post Carlos Alcaraz makes brutally honest Jannik Sinner confession as he reaches Monte Carlo final<\/a> appeared first on Tennis365<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Carlos Alcaraz has powered to within one win of a return to the world No 2 ranking after reaching his first final at the Monte Carlo Masters, with his post-match comments confirming he has been feeling a little extra pressure in recent weeks. The 21-year-old Spaniard beat compatriot Alejandro Davidovich Fokina 7-6(2), 6-4 victor to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-291","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/291","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=291"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/291\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=291"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=291"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=291"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}