Alcaraz told ‘be careful’ over Djokovic claims as Spaniard has already suffered

Carlos Alcaraz has been warned over his recent fixation on Novak Djokovic. The 20-year-old has openly admitted that he thinks about the Serb and their battle for the world No 1 ranking “in every practice and at every tournament”. But retired tennis legend Jimmy Connors believes it could leave Alcaraz vulnerable when he faces other players as the Spaniard’s focus may have already cost him matches against Jannik Sinner and Daniil Medvedev.

Alcaraz has one main goal for the rest of the 2023 season, to reclaim the world No 1 ranking from Djokovic. In his quest, the two-time Grand Slam champion has made it no secret that he’s always thinking about his rival. “It’s something that I keep in mind every time I’m training, I think about it in every tournament,” he said ahead of the recent China Open.

The Spaniard doubled down on his comments after arriving at the Shanghai Masters as he told Tennis TV: “I’m not going to lie. I practice with a goal, I go to the tournaments with a goal. It’s trying to end the year as No 1 so Novak Djokovic is around my mind almost in every practice.”

Alcaraz has now been told to “be careful” following his claims. “My first thought about it is, I get that, even though Alcaraz beat him at Wimbledon, he’s been kind of a thorn in his side a little bit,” former world No 1 Jimmy Connors said on his Advantage Connors podcast.

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The eight-time Major winner thought that Alcaraz’s focus on Djokovic could leave him vulnerable when he matches up against other players – something that happened against Medvedev at the US Open and Sinner in Beijing. He continued: “But he’s got to be careful doing that because then you’re preparing for only one guy.

“And I understand also that you think, ‘Well if I’m playing good enough to be that guy, I’ll be able to beat everybody else too.’ But that’s not really true because other guys have different games, as he saw with Sinner. And the way he plays is different than the way Novak, Alcaraz or Medvedev. These guys, they’re big, they’re strong.”

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With Djokovic currently skipping the Asian swing, Alcaraz will want to focus on his other rivals on the tour if he wants to lift the title in Shanghai this week. The world No 2 came through a tough match against Dan Evans in the round of 32 on Monday.

Alcaraz was a break down in both sets but managed to come through 7-6(1) 6-4. Afterwards, he said: “It was one of the toughest matches that I’ve played this year, outside the Grand Slam. I don’t know. I had to stay strong mentally, physically, but I think that this match is, I won this match because strong mentally and strong physically.”

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