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Telegraph
14 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Telegraph
A year after angering his boss with a session in Ibiza, Carlos Alcaraz is at it again
Carlos Alcaraz's reaction to winning the greatest tennis final ever played? A trip to Ibiza, several celebratory shots of alcohol, and at least one 'very late' night. Arriving at Queen's Club on Sunday, a tanned and contented Alcaraz radiated Balearic vibes. He had just continued his annual tradition of nipping off to the Mediterranean after the clay-court season – a regular mini-break he described as a chance 'to turn off your mind a little bit'. How beneficial or otherwise will this latest recharge be? We should find out on Tuesday, when Alcaraz faces the mercurial shot-making of his compatriot, Alejandro Davidovich Fokina. Tennis tragics will remember that, 12 months ago, Alcaraz arrived here in a fug of exhaustion after a particularly vigorous Ibiza break. His Queen's title defence lasted just 99 minutes as he went down to Jack Draper in straight sets. After that slip-up – which remains one of only three defeats that Alcaraz has suffered on grass – his own manager Albert Molina accused him of 'very selfish' behaviour by prioritising his own desires over his tennis preparations. A year on, Alcaraz says he kept a lid on his recent party weekend, which he shared with the former Tottenham and Manchester United defender Sergio Reguilon among others. 'This year Ibiza was more chill,' Alcaraz, 22, said. 'Once I went to bed so late. Obviously I did some shots as well, but nothing more than that. Honestly, I rested a lot, physically and mentally. But I had fun, a nice three days. It was more than enough.' The ill-feeling around 2024's trip became a major plot point in Netflix's fly-on-the-wall documentary Carlos Alcaraz: My Way. As his coach Juan Carlos Ferrero told the cameras: 'I think it's great to disconnect but a part of your mind needs to remember you're a tennis player. He lost really quickly, and there's talk that he shouldn't have gone to Ibiza, he should have trained.' And yet, the clue lies in the title of that otherwise humdrum series: My Way. For Alcaraz, his way involves stopping to smell the roses – or, alternatively, down the tequila slammers – whenever he is not flogging his opponents around the four corners of the court. Neither was Queen's the biggest of deals. Whatever Ferrero might have thought about 2024's first-round defeat – which found Alcaraz in such a bedraggled state that one wondered if he was still hungover – normal service soon resumed. Less than a month after losing to Draper, Alcaraz produced arguably his most ruthless performance to overcome Novak Djokovic in the Wimbledon trophy match. In five grand-slam finals to date – all of which Alcaraz has won – it was his only straight-setter. The moral of the story should be clear. Do not try to cage Alcaraz's inner tiger. Tennis is at its best when presenting a variety of game styles, and he is such a creative and romantic character that he brings multiple personalities to the court on his own. Alcaraz can hit through you with sheer power, or he can bewilder you with his touch shots. He can perform defensive miracles or serve you off the court (even if this last incarnation is extremely rare, having only been spotted during that Wimbledon final last year). Add in the contrast between Alcaraz's unpredictability and Jannik Sinner's one-note efficiency, and you end up with miracles like the final they played in Paris a week ago. All the statistics suggest that this extraordinary five-and-a-half hour epic achieved a greater cut-through than anything tennis has produced in the Instagram age. Yet there is no doubt that most neutrals were pulling for Alcaraz. That is why he is so valuable: the sport's new golden goose. As John McEnroe put it last week: 'Carlos is the best gift the post-Big Three generation could give us. And he's the only tennis player I'd pay a ticket for.' The danger is that we burn Alcaraz out before his time, because he is not as much of a monomaniac as Sinner or Djokovic. And while Alcaraz's manager Molina might have publicly queried his commitment, Molina has his own case to answer. He surely played a part in the numerous unofficial exhibition matches that Alcaraz signed up to last year, including the 'Netflix Slam' in Las Vegas and the 'Six Kings Slam' in Saudi Arabia. Given that Alcaraz seems to miss events with injury each year – including a forearm strain in the spring of 2024 and an adductor problem in April – Molina must bear his own responsibility, not only to his client but to the game as a whole. Someone should be encouraging Alcaraz to forego these diversions, no matter how lucrative they might be. He has already earned around £33 million in prize money from the official tour, even before you factor in endorsement deals. As his own mother Virginia put it in My Way: 'I don't want my son to turn into a worn-out toy later on.' Still, no matter how many potholes Alcaraz may yet encounter, we will always have Paris. 'I still watch it sometimes,' Alcaraz explained on Sunday, when asked about the French Open final. 'I still don't believe that I come back from that moment [when he faced three match points in the fourth set].' As he added, with his trademark boyish smile: 'A lot of people told me that it was the best final they have ever seen.'
Daily Mail
15 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Carlos Alcaraz lifts the lid on what really happened during French Open champion's now-legendary Ibiza celebrations - while British No 1 Jack Draper plumped for home comforts ahead of Queen's
As if saving three match points to win the French Open were not outlandish enough, Carlos Alcaraz has once again achieved the impossible: a quiet holiday in Ibiza. The 22-year-old's annual excursions to the most Bacchanalian of the Balearics were a big topic in Carlos Alcaraz: My Way, a documentary released in April. For two years in a row the Spaniard's team tried to dissuade him, twice he defied them and joined friends for three days to 'reventar' - literally to burst, translated in Netflix 's ghastly Hollywood dubbing as 'get wasted'. After beating Jannik Sinner in one of the great Grand Slam finals last Sunday, Alcaraz partied in Paris until the early hours of Monday, then flew to Ibiza via Madrid. But the emotional and physical toll of that five-and-a-half-hour epic was such that it was more R&R than R&B. 'This year Ibiza was more chill,' said Alcaraz at Queen's Club, on the eve of the event he won in 2023. 'It was fun but honestly, I rested a lot, physically and mentally. But I had fun, a nice three days. It was more than enough. 'Once I went to bed so late, that's the craziest thing. Obviously I danced a bit, I did some shots as well, but nothing more than that. More chill and as a normal person does.' Did his coach Juan Carlos Ferrero and agent Albert Molina try to persuade him not to go this time? ' They didn't,' said Alcaraz with his toothy grin. 'They knew at the beginning of Roland Garros I was going to go, 100 per cent.' It has become a lethal formula: French Open, Ibiza, Queen's, win Wimbledon. If he makes it a hat trick of All England Club titles, as he is favourite to do, surely the routine will continue ad infinitum. 'It's really, really intense, the clay season,' said Alcaraz. 'After Roland Garros is the best moment to go anywhere. My friends go to Ibiza every year but it doesn't matter where you go - it's a time to turn off your mind. 'After such an intense Roland Garros it was great to disconnect from everything, have fun and then come back with more energy.' Alcaraz's trip to Ibiza last year left him undercooked for Queen's, and the man who took advantage was Jack Draper, beating the Spaniard in straight sets. Since then, Draper has risen from 31st to fourth in the world and plays here as No2 seed to Alcaraz's No1. The 23-year-old was upset by world No62 Alexander Bublik in the last 16 of the French Open, and had a couple of days off before getting back to work - although he was not tempted to join Alcaraz in heading off to a party island. The Brit said he was in awe of the Alcaraz-Sinner final, which is the second-longest men's singles Grand Slam final of all time 'Everyone's different,' said Draper. 'I like being at home. I love going back to the UK, to my flat, or to the family home. When I work, I work really hard and I'm always on. It's nice to come back and take my mind off everything. 'I don't feel the urge to be going out partying and all that stuff. I'd rather just come home.' One evening after training, Draper settled down in his Putney flat to watch the French Open final. As a man on a mission to chase down Sinner and Alcaraz, it must have been a daunting watch. 'Unbelievable tennis,' said Draper, who plays tricky American Jenson Brooksby in the first round here. 'It inspired all the players, it captured attention around the world, even people who aren't into tennis. 'I don't know what I'm capable of yet but I aspire to be at that level. What those guys are doing is setting the way and changing the game. Players like myself are going to be working very hard to get to that point.' As much as Alcaraz switched off from tennis in Ibiza, he could not resist watching a few highlights himself. 'The bad thing in tennis is sometimes you don't have time to realise what you have done,' said Alcaraz, who will face fellow Spaniard Alejandro Davidovich Fokina in the first round of Queen's. 'But I've been talking with my friends, I've been watching highlights and when that moment comes, the love-40, I still can't believe I won at the end of that match. At some point, I had to calm myself and realise I did it.'
