US Open – Carlos Alcaraz ‘enjoying the moment’ but ‘hungry for more’ after Casper Ruud win

The youngest player in ATP history to top the world rankings, Alcaraz pulled off a miraculous run at the US Open that saw him spend a record 23 hours and 39 minutes on court through seven matches.

“Right now I’m enjoying the moment. I’m enjoying having the trophy in my hands. But, of course, I’m hungry for more. I want to be in the top for many, many weeks. I hope many years,” the 19-year-old told reporters in New York.

“I’m going to work hard again after this week, this amazing two weeks. I’m going to fight to have more of this.”

Alcaraz said he began to believe he was ready to win a major after he lifted his first of two Masters 1000 trophies in Miami in April.

If there were concerns about the void the ‘Big Three’ of Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic, are going to leave behind when they retire from the sport, Alcaraz has eased many of those worries.

His performances this fortnight in New York showcased his incredible talent, his fighting abilities, and above all his charisma, as he regularly had 23,000 people on their feet at Arthur Ashe Stadium.

“I think the most special thing about my brother is his ambition, he has to improve a little more but his desire to win any given match is what’s really special about him,” his brother Alvaro told Eurosport after the final.

Alcaraz’s coach, former world No. 1 Juan Carlos Ferrero, refuses to draw any comparisons between his charge and the Big Three but sees limitless potential in him.

“I have the goal to put him on the high level of tennis,” said Ferrero.

“Of course, I think it’s going to be very, very difficult to achieve what they [Federer, Nadal and Djokovic] have done in tennis. We’re talking about 22 Grand Slams. He has only one. It is a long way still to go. But who knows? I think he has all the tennis and potential to be one of the best. All we have to do is try it.”

On his Twitter this week, Alcaraz has been posting a message consisting of four emojis: a brain, a heart, and two ‘eggs’ – the latter implying guts or ‘c******’ in Spanish.

“These things mean a lot to me because my grandfather told me that since I was a kid in every match, in every tournament,” Alcaraz explained. “This is something that I remember in all the tough moments, in all matches, in all tournaments. I remember my grandfather. Thanks to that I can push myself a little bit up in the tough moments. It’s thanks to him.”

Alcaraz admits what surprised him the most these past two weeks is how well he handled the difficult moments mentally.

The teen phenom was down two-sets-to-one against Jannik Sinner and had to save match point before dismissing the Italian in the quarter-finals. He lost the fourth set of his semi-final against Frances Tiafoe but managed to elevate his level in the fifth and secure the victory. He entered the final on the back of three consecutive marathon five-setters but refused to let fatigue take over.

“Carlos, I think he was born to play this kind of tournament, born to play these kind of matches,” said his coach Ferrero.

“Since the moment that I started with him, I saw some things that were different than the other guys at his age.”

He now will face a new kind of pressure with a target on his back as the new world No. 1. Ferrero believes that will only push Alcaraz to improve.

“The players now, they’re going to play very motivated against him. Now he’s No. 1. Even like this, it’s like Real Madrid-Barcelona, there’s a rivalry that gets you to increase your level. It’s what is going to happen to him against his opponents. He has to be ready,” Ferrero added.

“The other day I said to someone in the press that maybe Sinner and Carlos could dominate the tour for maybe the next 10 years, from what I saw, the level that I saw the other day.

“Of course, there’s other players like Alexander Zverev, Dominic Thiem, Casper, Stefanos Tsitsipas, they are going to be there, they are going to have opportunities to win Grand Slams for sure. But with all respect, that’s what I think.”