Alcaraz ready for ‘special moment’ in Olympic tennis final

PARIS: Carlos Alcaraz said it will be a “special moment for me, in my life, in my career” when he bids to add Olympic gold to his four Grand Slam titles at Roland Garros on Sunday.

The 21-year-old became the youngest man to reach the Olympics final on Friday when he thrashed Canada´s Felix Auger-Aliassime 6-1, 6-1 in just 75 minutes. He will meet Novak Djokovic in Sunday´s gold medal showdown if the top-seeded Serb overcomes a knee injury and Italy´s Lorenzo Musetti in the second semi-final. “The final is going to be a really special moment for me, in my life, in my career, so I´m going to try and enjoy this moment,” said Alcaraz. “It´s going to be difficult, but it´s also going to be special. I will try to be focused on myself and try not to hear all this, all the fans, all the people that say ´I´m going to win´.

“I just want to give 100 per cent my best tennis and hopefully I reach my goal to get the gold.” Spanish star Alcaraz, playing on the same Roland Garros court where he won a maiden French Open in June, broke the 19th-ranked Auger-Aliassime three times in the first set, racing away with six consecutive games.

Alcaraz broke again in the fourth and sixth games of the second set on his way to claiming a fourth successive win over the Canadian having lost the first three of the pair´s series. “It was a very complete performance and I played at a very high level from start to finish,” said Alcaraz. “I had very good feelings and sensations, I´m so happy.”

He added: “The final is very important for me and the Spanish people but I try not to think about how important it is and will focus on the match.” Wimbledon champion Alcaraz is the fourth Spanish man to reach the Olympic men´s final after Jordi Arrese at Barcelona in 1992, Sergi Bruguera in Atlanta four years later and Rafael Nadal who won gold at Beijing in 2008.