Carlos Alcaraz has revealed he reached out to legend Andre Agassi for a ‘few tips’, before beating opponent Jannik Sinner in the Indian Wells semi-final. The world number two is said to have enjoyed a sit-down meeting with Agassi during his recent trip to Las Vegas.
It’s been a successful visit to the States for Alcaraz, who will take on Daniil Medvedev in the Indian Wells final later today, having come from a set down to despatch Sinner 2-1 on Saturday. But while he’s been in the USA, the Spanish star took some time to meet up with former tennis ace Agassi, with Alcaraz picking the American’s brain for tips and tricks.
“Well, I ask him [Agassi] or a few tips, a few things about how he was doing during his career,” Alcaraz told the Tennis Channel. “How he dealt with the pressure or how he stayed at the high rank or the high intensity during almost his whole career.”
“He told me that ‘you have to give your 100% every day, or if you feel at your 80%, you have to give your 100% of that 80%. He told me the importance of every day. You cannot miss nothing in a day.”
An interesting concept, but one which appears to have benefitted Alcaraz during the current Indian Wells Open. The 2023 Wimbledon winner has been in imperious form during the meet in California and is the bookies’ favourite to take the 2024 Indian Wells title this evening.
Speaking after his victory over Sinner on Saturday, Alcaraz told Sky Sports: “I stayed strong mentally and that’s very important. You have to be strong mentally if you want to overcome these kind of matches, being a set down against someone who is playing an unbelievable game.
“I’m very happy with the things that I’ve done after the first set. I changed my game a little bit and it worked very well. Really happy to beat Jannik and be in the final again.”
He added: “I had to run more, I had to defend better than I did in the first set. I had to put more balls in. Try to stay strong on the court… We played a lot of long rallies, more than the first set. Making mistakes in the second, third, fourth ball and against someone like Jannik [Sinner], it can’t be possible. So I think I changed that after the first set.”
