Carlos Alcaraz has expressed his desire to have same royalty as the big Three of tennis that very obviously include Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic.
The Spaniard never shies away from revealing his ambitious side as he proclaimed that he wants to be one of the best players in the history of sport. Alcaraz who is ready for his title defense at the All England Club has established himself as a major force in the men’s tennis. The 21-year-old has on multiple occasions reaffirmed his goals to reach Djokovic’s staggering 24 major titles and other great records.
Alcaraz appears all set to defend his title at Wimbledon and is looking in great form to successfully defend a GS title for first time in his career. The Murcia-native defeated 7-time Wimbledon champion in 5 sets in last year’s final. Alcaraz is currently ranked #3 in the World and is a 3-time major champion having won US Open 2022, Wimbledon Championships 2023 and Roland Garros in 2024 a month ago.
Alcaraz made a quick work of 269th ranked Estonian qualifier Mark Lajal in the R1 to start his title defense on Monday. He will now face ATP #69 Aleksandar Vukic in the R2 of the tournament.
Appearing in an interview on CNN Sport, Alcaraz made it clear that he is here to break the records set by Big Three of tennis.
“I want to be one of the best in history. I am dreaming that big,” the former world No 1 said. “I want to sit [at] the same table as the ‘Big Three’, legends of our sports.
“(On whether he is surprised by his quick rise) Sometimes. Honestly, I don’t think too much about it. I just kind of live in the moment, live in the present.
“If I look back, I’ve achieved great things so far, but it’s something that I don’t want to think about and I want to keep going.”
While discussing his rapid ascent, the World No. 3 also opened up about how it feels to return to Wimbledon as a defending champion.
“Obviously, it’s even more special coming [back] as a defending champion,” Alcaraz added.
“I’m trying not to think about the pressure that I have to defend the points or [that I] want to go far. I just want to be better every day, trying to play my best in every match and give 100%.
“I think that the difference [with] last year is I’m a little bit more mature and I know how to play on grass. I have more experiences about playing in this surface.
“For me, it doesn’t matter against who I’m going to play. Of course, everybody wants to watch Jannik [Sinner] against me in the semi-final or Jannik or me playing a final against Novak.
“I think that everybody is waiting for that moment, but it’s a really long process, really long run. Let’s see if I’m going to be in this position.”