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Carlos Alcaraz had not hit a ball on Court Central before coming out for his opening match against Alex Michelsen today. He blew an early break lead but recovered to win 7-6(4) 6-3, and then explained that he wanted to get as much "information" as possible about the court early on in the match.
The world No. 3 played and lost one match at the Paris Masters' new home of the La Defense Arena last year, so he has little experience here as is. But the courts have also been sped up a lot this season, so they're very different for everyone.
"Obviously, it was the first time that I touched Centre Court, so I didn’t know what was going to happen, to be honest, on Centre Court, so I really tried to be focused on every shot, on how the balls react in the bounces, how it was going to react when I hit the ball on the racket, so I tried to be really focused to get as much information as I could get at the beginning," Alcaraz said after moving into the last 16.
"Tried to feel better and better after every game. So yeah, I broke early, but you know, a couple of mistakes. He was playing great. It was really difficult because he was solid from the baseline, and then his game is pretty flat, so the ball slips a lot and it’s really difficult sometimes to control the ball, which it’s even tougher. But just happy with everything, with my first match, with the feeling that I got today, and just can’t wait to get back on court tomorrow."