Carlos Alcaraz needed 4 sets to beat qualifier Jesper De Jong on the Philippe-Chatrier and qualify for the 3rd round of the Roland Garros. Carlitos needed to express himself at his best to get the better of the Dutch qualifier, needing to make the most of his concreteness, to the detriment of spectacular plays such as dropshots and volleys. The Spaniard seemed to be in difficulty during the match, even from a physical point of view, with De Jong he was able to play almost on equal terms. It is unclear how much the forearm injury actually influenced the performance of the young Spaniard, who still appeared shy in some movements.
Carlos Alcaraz© Dan Istitene / Staff Getty Images Sport
At the on-court interview, Alex Corretja asked his young countryman about the difficulties of beating someone outside the Top-100, in matches where you have to give your all to beat him.
"As I have said many times, in this type of tournaments any player can get you into trouble. You have to concentrate on every game, point and round. It doesn't matter that I am at the top of the rankings and that I face someone in the top 100. You have to think that you should play at your best if you want to get through the round. The ranking doesn’t matter. The work matter. He has the level to keep going. I’m sure he’s gonna break the top-100," told Alcaraz.
Alcaraz had kind words for De Jong after beating him at Roland Garros
Corretja: “We are Spanish but we’re international so we need to speak English for everyone 😂. Jesper came from qualies. That shows the difficulty of our sport. Playing someone outside the top 100, you need to… pic.twitter.com/hsROm1LAwS
— The Tennis Letter (@TheTennisLetter) May 29, 2024
Alcaraz then analyzed the moment of the match in which it was necessary to be concrete in order to win the challenge.
"In the 3rd set I thought I had to forget about putting on a show and try to give myself a chance to be in the rally, 5 or 6 or 7 balls, every point. It was difficult for me to do that. I was in a bit of trouble. I'm really happy to have done it in the end. Obviously I think throughout the match we both gave a great show. Drop shot and volley, I think he did it better than me," he explained.
Alcaraz after beating De Jong at Roland Garros
Corretja: “I know you like to enjoy playing and hit drop shots and coming to the net. Which point of the match did you realize you don’t need to have fun, you need to suffer to win?”
Carlos: “The 3rd set I thought I have to forget… pic.twitter.com/BYALTJgmOB
— The Tennis Letter (@TheTennisLetter) May 29, 2024