Antonio Martínez Cascales: “Alcaraz processes defeats well, the Cincinnati final restored his confidence”
Antonio Martínez Cascales has accompanied Carlos Alcaraz this season on the Latin American clay court tour -Buenos Aires and Rio de Janeiro-, and later in Toronto and Cincinnati. In this last tournament, he coincided with Juan Carlos Ferrero. The coach, founder of the prestigious Equelite de Villena Academy, takes stock in MARCA of the moment Carlitos is going through before facing the defense of the US Open crown.
Ask. What is your assessment of the tournaments prior to the last ‘Grand Slam’?
Answer. The balance is simple. In Toronto, he had very long games playing, at times very well and at times not so much. He had the duel with Tommy Paul in mind from the beginning. The feelings with which he arrived in Cincinnati were not good, but they were not real either because in many phases of the games he had been at a high level. He had a hard time closing the match with Hurkacz. In Cincinnati, the sensations were still not very good, but he was getting the games. The final with Djokovic, and the fact that he lost in the tie-break of the third set, made him regain confidence in his tennis.
Q. Matches as long and with as many sets as the ones you have been playing are perhaps the best shoot for the United States Open.
A. As a shoot, it is good because of the way it ends. It’s true that after the Cincinnati final I was very tired. The night after the final, he slept badly. The physical demand and stress of playing three or four hours, four games in a row and without rest, is not the same as doing it with a day in between like in the big ones. He has had a week of margin to recover, so the filming will have been good for him.
When we talk about a game, he immediately remembers and gets hooked.”
Q. Last year, after your success at the US Open, you had a very tight schedule that did not let you down, and you ended up paying for it in the final stretch of the season. Was it in the plan for you to rest well after winning Wimbledon?
A. Yes, that’s right. She needed her vacation and I think that was achieved. The five days before the trip to Toronto, when I went down to train with him in Murcia, he seemed fresh and eager.
Q. How does golf help you during your participation in tournaments?
A. It helps him disconnect from tennis because you are surrounded by greenery, in the middle of nature, and Carlos loves that type of location. He is very competitive and plays golf totally seriously and to win.
Q. Does Alcaraz remind you a lot of Ferrero with his passion for golf?
A. He reminds me of Juan Carlos, who loves and loved playing golf, Rafa Nadal, Feliciano, Lleyton Hewitt. I’ve seen it live because I played with them. They are competing, but they do it with laughter and without the pressure of the points that you have to win and defend in tennis.
Carlitos likes to meet people, but he doesn’t brag about who he knows”
Q. One of Alcaraz’s main qualities is that he learns with defeats?
A. Yes, because it processes them and processes what it is told about both victories and defeats. He knows how to process defeats positively, and that’s the good thing. Sometimes we talk about a match he has to play, and I refer him to previous matches, either with that player or with another, and he immediately gets hooked and remembers.
Q. If you look at the US Open draw, it seems that your side is more complicated than Djokovic’s. Do you agree?
A. It does seem a little tougher, especially because the players who are at the bottom of the table are not having good results. Although this is sport and you never know. It is not known if Carlos is going to reach the quarterfinals; Whether Sinner is going to arrive or not… Carlos also had a very complicated draw at Wimbledon, and he knew how to get through it. People fall in tournaments and you have to go game by game.
“In Cincinnati, I think he cried out of helplessness because he thought he could have done a little more.”
P. Carlitos is already known wherever he goes and a claim for the fans. How is fame?
R. He likes to meet people because it suits his character. It is immediately open, whether it is known or not. Of course, he loves meeting Messi, Jimmy Butler or Sebastián Yatra, with whom he went to dinner the other day in New York. He maintains relationships, whether on the phone or through social media, and never talks about it if the conversation doesn’t come out. He doesn’t brag or brag about whether I know this one or that one.
Q. Valencia will be one of the venues for the group stage of the Davis Cup for the second consecutive year with the presence of David Ferrer’s new Spain. The presence of Novak Djokovic for Serbia has also been announced. Are you excited about your appointment as president of the Valencian Tennis Federation?
A. That an important competition like the Davis Cup is played in Valencia is very good for Valencian tennis. We had a great tournament for many years that was lost, and Davis has returned high-level tennis to the Community. The possibility of hosting the final phase that is now being played at the Carpena in Málaga has been on the table, and seriously. I hope it happens in the future and that the authorities continue to commit to having events of this type. He
Q. At the conclusion of the Cincinnati final with Djokovic, he began to cry. Does that show what a winner he is?
A. Yes, because he wanted to win that match of all, all of them. I think he cried out of helplessness, thinking that he could have done a little more. What makes him angry is losing the final with a break-up in the second set. But it is the defeats that are good for him. There is the positive side of trying to make sure it doesn’t happen to you next time.
Q. If you look at the US Open draw, it seems that your side is more complicated than Djokovic’s. Do you agree?
A. It does seem a little tougher, especially because the players who are at the bottom of the table are not having good results. Although this is sport and you never know. It is not known if Carlos is going to reach the quarterfinals; Whether Sinner is going to arrive or not… Carlos also had a very complicated draw at Wimbledon, and he knew how to get through it. People fall in tournaments and you have to go game by game.
Carlitos likes to meet people, but he doesn’t brag about who he knows.”
P. Carlitos is already known wherever he goes and a claim for the fans. How is fame?
R. He likes to meet people because it suits his character. It is immediately open, whether it is known or not. Of course, he loves meeting Messi, Jimmy Butler or Sebastián Yatra, with whom he went to dinner the other day in New York. He maintains relationships, whether on the phone or through social media, and never talks about it if the conversation doesn’t come out. He doesn’t brag or brag about whether I know this one or that one. Q. Valencia will be one of the venues for the group stage of the Davis Cup for the second consecutive year with the presence of David Ferrer’s new Spain. The presence of Novak Djokovic for Serbia has also been announced. Are you excited about your appointment as president of the Valencian Tennis Federation?
R. That an important competition like the Davis Cup is played in Valencia is very good for Valencian tennis. We had a great tournament for many years that was lost, and Davis has brought high level tennis back to the Community. The possibility of hosting the final phase that is now being played at the Carpena de Málaga has been on the table, and seriously. Hopefully it will happen in the future and that the authorities continue to bet on having events of this type.