Italy's Jannik Sinner during a press conference in Doha, yesterday.
Doha, Qatar: The world’s top two players, Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner, yesterday made their intentions clear ahead of the Qatar ExxonMobil Open, which kicks off today at the Khalifa International Tennis and Squash Complex.
The world No. 1 Alcaraz, who is making his second appearance in the tournament, is set to begin his campaign tomorrow after arriving from Melbourne, where he completed the Career Grand Slam at the Australian Open with a perfect 7-0 record for the season.
Speaking ahead of his opening match, Alcaraz admitted he is still reflecting on his Australian Open triumph but stressed the need to move forward quickly on the ATP Tour.
“It is good to be back on court again,” Alcaraz said yesterday.
“What I did in Australia was incredible, but tennis is about going tournament after tournament. Every event is special, and you want to give one hundred percent,” Alcaraz, who defeated Serbian icon Novak Djokovic at Melbourne Park to become the youngest man ever to win all four majors, said.
Alcaraz, 22, who also became the youngest male player in the Open Era to achieve a career Grand Slam, revealed that he and his team have set specific goals centered on development rather than trophies this week in Doha.
“Coming here, these days, my team and I, just we set up some goals for this tournament,” the Spaniard said.
“We are not talking about results at all. It’s just more about the process to be better, still in the process of growing up. There are some things that I really want to be better and [I want to] develop my game in a way that I really want to show up and to pull off here in this tournament.
“That would be a really successful week for me, besides results. I want to see myself that I’m just doing the right things on and off the court,” Alcaraz said.
Alcaraz said he is focused on taking one match at a time in what he described as an exceptionally strong draw for an ATP 500 event, with former champions and top-ranked contenders present in both halves.
Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz
“I know how difficult every match is. Every match is such a different, our play is totally different. I think this draw is a really tough one for a 500 tournament. We can see the first matches how good matches that we have in the first round,” Alcaraz, who takes on France’s Arthur Rinderknech in the first round, said.
Alcaraz’s projected path could include a semi-final against former champion Daniil Medvedev or defending champion Andrey Rublev, and a possible title showdown with second-seed arch-rival Sinner.
Meanwhile, Sinner said he is happy to be back in Doha where he competed in the junior events.
“First of all great to play here, you know, for the first time I do remember I was here some years ago because of a junior tournament, so I have great memories in a way and I’m looking forward to it,” Sinner said.
He also noted that he is looking to carry forward the momentum from Australia.
“We try to get the rhythm back from Australia, heading also into the Sunshine Double after in the US, and then we’ll see. Of course, we are here trying to perform in the best possible way, and we’ll then see how it goes.”
The Italian takes on Zcech Tomas Machac in their Round of 32 clash today. The bottom half also includes Khazakh World No.10 Alexander Bublik, 2024 finalist Jakub Mensik and World No.21 Jiri Lehecka, showing how strong the field is.
Home favourite Mubarak Al Zayed will open the singles main draw action today, facing Australia’s Alexei Popyrin, while Czech youngster Jakub Mensik takes on Britain’s Jan Choinski. Former champion and world No. 4 Daniil Medvedev begins his campaign against China’s Shang Juncheng, before an all-French encounter will see Valentin Royer face Pierre-Hugues Herbert. Rising French star Arthur Fils closes the day’s singles programme against Poland’s Kamil Majchrzak.
