Carlos Alcaraz believes it will be “weird” to join forces with his rivals during his Laver Cup debut.
The world No. 3 is preparing to play the Roger Federer-founded team tournament for the first time in his young career.
Alcaraz will be the only first-time member of Team Europe this weekend. And he’s anticipating things being “different” when he teams up with the likes of Daniil Medvedev and Stefanos Tsitsipas.
Fans have been waiting to see the four-time Grand Slam champion in action at the Ryder Cup-style event. Alcaraz was in such high demand that his commitment to the 2024 edition of the tournament was announced last year.
But the Laver Cup newcomer thinks it’ll be a strange experience to compete alongside players he’s usually facing on the other side of the net. Ahead of the tournament getting underway, Alcaraz said it would be “weird” to spend the week with his rivals.
But he’s also happy to embrace the unique circumstances. “We are going to laugh a lot, I’m sure about it,” he told the Laver Cup’s official media channel.
“Having a lot of time with them and speaking with them about something else, not only tennis, is going to be different… and I like different things.”
As well as Medvedev and Tsitsipas, Alcaraz will also team up with Casper Ruud, Alexander Zverev and Grigor Dimitrov.
The Laver Cup initially started as an exhibition tournament but, in 2019, it became an officially sanctioned ATP event. While there are no ranking points on offer, the matches count towards official tour head-to-head records.
And Alcaraz is taking his Team Europe duties very seriously. He added: “I love it and I wanted to be part of it. It’s a serious competition. I think we have to represent Europe, you know, in the best way possible. The prestige that this tournament has, and, being a Laver Cup champion is a huge thing.”
The world No. 3 is also excited to learn from Bjorn Borg, who will step down from his role of the Team Europe captain after this year. “He was one of the players that bring tennis to the top of the sport,” Alcaraz said of the squad leader.
“A legend from tennis and from the sport in general. My dad is a huge fan of him as well. So being, you know, a coach from Bjorn Borg is going to be a really important moment for me, for my career, for my life.”
Content Source: www.express.co.uk