(CNN) Spanish tennis star Carlos Alcaraz has huge ambitions — and one particular of them is to be in a position to emulate some of the game’s greats like Novak Djokovic and Rafa Nadal by winning titles straight away immediately after returning from injury.
The 19-year-old has not played a competitive match for a lot more than 3 months as he recovers from abdominal and hamstring injuries, but returned final month by winning the Argentina Open in Buenos Aires.
His type has continued to appear impressive and he has now reached the Indian Wells semi-finals immediately after beating Canada’s Felix Auger-Aliassime on Thursday.
“I appear at the huge players, [Novak] Djokovic or Rafa [Nadal]when they are coming from injury and they possibly have a higher percentage to win the tournament immediately after injury,” the planet quantity two told reporters on Thursday.
“I watched them a tiny bit when I got hurt, you know, in education. They motivated me to play a great game immediately after the injury in the initially tournaments.
“I was shocked when I won Buenos Aires, but I am not shocked at the moment.”
Alcaraz final met Italy’s Yannick Sinner in final year’s US Open quarterfinals.
Alcaraz, who has not dropped a set so far in the tournament, will meet Italy’s Yannick Sinner on Saturday for a spot in the Indian Wells final — an opponent he final beat in the US Open quarter-finals en route to his initially Grand Slam title. years.
If he beats the Italian once more, Alcaraz will not only have a opportunity to win Indian Wells, he will also be one particular win away from Djokovic reclaiming the planet quantity one particular spot.
At 19 years and 214 days, the Spaniard became the youngest year-finish planet No. 1 final season just before ceding the title to Djokovic immediately after the Serbian won the Australian Open this year.
Alcaraz, nonetheless, does not get carried away and is only focused on what promises to be a spectacular match against the talented Sinner.
“It really is genuinely difficult for an opponent to be mentally and physically focused all through the match,” he stated.
“That is what I really like about playing against him, it pushes me to the limit.”
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