Carlos Alcaraz sends strong warning to tennis world about his career ambitions: ‘I’d like to be…’

Carlos Alcaraz will turn 22 next month. Despite his young age, he has already established himself as one of the best players in the world and currently holds the No. 3 spot in the ATP rankings, behind Jannik Sinner and Alexander Zverev. In that context, the Spanish star made it clear what his ultimate professional goal is.

“I’ve always said I’d like to be the best in history and sit at the Big 3’s table,” Alcaraz said in a recent interview with GQ Spain. However, he emphasized that this goal doesn’t take away his focus or disrupt his mindset: “Those are big words, not an obsession.”

Carlos also explained that success and numbers aren’t everything. “I always say I’d like to be remembered as an inspiration to the little ones, and as someone who had fun doing what he loved most, with a smile on his face and making people enjoy themselves,” he added.

“I was number one a few years ago, and I was happy,” said the Spanish star. “Now I’m number three, and I’m equally happy. And I’m enjoying the journey, the sport, and life. I hope I never lose that naturalness, because that would be giving up a part of who I am. Although I imagine it’s inevitable to gain and lose things as the years go by. We’ll find out in 10 years.”

Carlos Alcaraz of Spain celebrates a point against Denis Shapovalov.

Alcaraz has a new mindset to reach the top

In the same interview, Carlos Alcaraz acknowledged that he doesn’t shy away from the pressure of competing against the world’s best in his pursuit of the top. “It keeps you alive and means you’re fighting for very important things,” he said.

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That doesn’t mean, however, that he’s consumed by it. “I’ve been paying attention to the rankings, to the stats, and I think it’s the wrong thing to do,” Carlos explained. “Right now, I realized that I have to just play, because I love playing tennis, I love stepping on the court, to show good tennis and forget about the ranking, forget about everything.”

Things are looking up for Alcaraz in Monte-Carlo

After suffering a disappointing loss in his Miami Open debut against David Goffin, Alcaraz reset his mindset and focused on getting results during the clay court season—one of his favorite surfaces—by applying his new approach: forget everything and just focus on the game. “On the clay season, in the clay tournaments, I’m going to try to do that… and just play,” he said.

So far, it seems to be working. After getting past Francisco Cerundolo and Daniel Altmaier, Alcaraz reached the semifinals of the Monte-Carlo Masters 1000 with a 4-6, 7-5, 6-3 win over Arthur Fils. He will now face Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, while the other semifinal will feature Lorenzo Musetti and Alex de Miñaur.