“I played so much that I couldn’t train for more than three days in a row,” says Alcaraz

Carlos Alcaraz (World No.2, beaten in the 3rd round of the Rome Masters 1000): “Physically, I feel perfectly fine. But he made me feel uncomfortable on the court, he was aggressive all the time, he had his feet on the baseline, even inside the court. It was difficult for me to get into the game, in the exchange. I made a lot of mistakes that I don’t usually do. There are days like that, you have to manage them. In the second set, I was not far away, I had my chances, but I didn’t take them. He played at a very high level, and he maintained that level the whole game, I couldn’t keep up. I tried to fight until the last ball but it wasn’t enough. He deserves the win. If he continues to play at this level, he will surprise more than one. I’m going to take a few days off, I need to rest my mind a bit to arrive fresh at Roland-Garros. And it will really help me to have a few days to train at home and prepare for Roland-Garros. I played so much (the last few weeks) that I couldn’t train more than three, four days in a row. If I want to arrive in Paris in good shape, to achieve a good result there, that goes through training.»