Carlos Alcaraz held a press conference in Spanish after speaking to reporters in English.
This is what he said in Spanish, translated to English.
On what the Australian Open title means to him:
It means a lot to me to lift this title, this trophy in Australia. It was something I’d been looking for, for a long time. Every year that I came, my objective was to try to win and lift the trophy. It hadn’t happened, I’d never got past the quarter-finals. [I was] even leaving here with a good taste in my mouth about the tennis I was playing, but still things didn’t happen and I couldn’t get past the quarters. But once the pre-season started, we put a lot of work into it, a lot of mental work, thinking about this tournament, having things very clear in what we had to do, and the truth is that it’s been three very positive weeks. Three weeks in which I’ve seen a lot of improvement, from the first day to the last, which is what I’m most proud of.
Carlos Alcaraz raises his fist in celebration.Credit: Eddie Jim
On his team:
Trusting in my team, who have always been the key to calming things down when, especially the first matches, I wasn’t entirely happy and they’ve always …said that I had to have patience, that the level I wanted was going to arrive.
[They said] that everything I had to do was keep myself mentally strong and, above all, accept the negative things … In the end we’ve ended up playing great tennis and lifting a title, which is a dream come true.
On future title plans:
Right now that I have this one Carlos Alcaraz v Novak Djokovic in men’s singles final; junior girls singles final; junior boys singles final; day 15 scores, schedule, draw, times, how to watch, Rafael Nadal, Joel Edgerton, Liam Hemsworth, Sarah Snook, Mark Webber, Ricky Ponting, I’m already thinking about Roland Garros. I’m not going to leave anything for anyone.
On the possibility of winning four grand slams in the same season:
Obviously, it’s something I would like. Who wouldn’t like it? In the end, we work to have the most grand slams possible, we train for it … Hopefully, it happens some year, but I think … the best way to be able to face it and be able to achieve it is to go one by one.
I already have Australia, I’m going to celebrate it, I’m going to enjoy it, I’m going to savour the moment because we know it’s very complicated to obtain a trophy like this, but my head is already in Roland Garros, and to see what we can do at Roland Garros and go bit by bit.
It was a changing-of-the-guard moment when Carlos Alcaraz usurped Novak Djokovic in the Australian Open final on Sunday night.Credit: Getty Images
On whether he stops to think about his achievements:
We’ve learnt to try to stop a bit … and enjoy [it] .and go back to even see … moments of the tournament, enjoy them, savour them. And above all realise that achieving it is very complicated, and I think that’s the best way to do it to then be able to continue … working and giving yourself the opportunity to continue achieving a grand slam or trying to fight for a grand slam.
On what it means that Novak Djokovic considers him a legend at 22:
Well, I think a legend isn’t forged in three or four years on the tour. Obviously, I think for what I’ve achieved, many people can call me a legend. Seven grand slams, several Masters 1000s, 25 titles, almost 70 weeks as No.1.
There are many people who … think that they can already consider me a legend if I retired right now. But I think a legend is forged over a lot of time – when you see a player year after year, going to the same tournaments with the same ambition, with the same hunger, with the same excitement. It generates a different feeling in the people who watch tennis.
I think that’s where a legend is really forged and I would like them to not call me that now, but rather tomorrow, in five, in 10 years, whenever it is – that they tell me my career has been legendary, that I am a legend of tennis, and that is what would make me proud.