"Carlos Alcaraz believes a lot in himself and he believes that he can beat Novak Djokovic" - Juan Carlos Ferrero
Carlos Alcaraz's coach Juan Carlos Ferrero said that the 20-year-old believes he can defeat Novak Djokovic when they lock horns in the semifinals of the French Open on Friday.
Top-seeded Alcaraz booked his place in the final four of the clay-court Major with a comprehensive 6-2, 6-1, 7-6(5) over fifth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas. Here, the Spaniard will be up against third seed Djokovic, who came back from a set down to defeat 11th seed Karen Khachanov 4-6, 7-6(0), 6-2, 6-4.
Alcaraz and Djokovic will lock horns for the second time, with the former winning their previous meeting 6-7(5), 7-5, 7-6(5) in the semifinals of the 2022 Madrid Open.
The World No. 1's coach Juan Carlos Ferrero spoke to reporters and said that the result in Madrid would not give his ward any advantage. He also claimed that both Alcaraz and Djokovic are the best players in the world at present.
"I don't think there is advantage. I think both players are maybe the best in the world right now. Novak has the experience to play these kind of matches more than Carlos, of course, but at the same time Carlos really wants to play that match. He was really looking forward to that match since the beginning," Ferrero said.
The 2003 French Open champion said that he expects a tough match between Alcaraz and Djokovic while also stating that the 20-year-old believes he can defeat the Serb on Friday.
"He wants to do it, but of course, we really know that Novak is going to give absolutely his best. He is 22 Grand Slam champion. I think he is going to fight until the last ball, and he is going to prepare the match as well as we can do. So we expect really tough and close match," Ferrero said.
"As I said, Carlos believes a lot in himself, and he believes that he can beat Novak. Then we'll see. I think they both have an amazing level," he added.
"It's going to be a great match"- Carlos Alcaraz on French Open semifinal against Novak Djokovic
Carlos Alcaraz was asked about his French Open semifinal against Novak Djokovic in his post-match conference after beating Stefanos Tsitsipas. The Spaniard said that playing a final-four fixture against the Serb is amazing and that the match would be a great one.
"Of course for me, it's amazing to make history, you know, playing a semifinal with such a legend like Novak. So it's gonna be a great match for me," Carlos Alcaraz said.
"I would say the match we played last year doesn't affect too much to this one. You know, it was one year ago. I would say both learned a lot from that match, so it's gonna be totally different, and let's see what happen on Friday," he added.
Carlos Alcaraz and Novak Djokovic have both been in terrific form so far at the French Open, having dropped just one set each so far. The Spaniard reached the last four after beating Flavio Cobolli, Taro Daniel, Denis Shapovalov, Lorenzo Musetti, and Stefanos Tsitsipas.
Djokovic, on the other hand, triumphed over Aleksandar Kovacevic, Marton Fucsovics, Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, Juan Pablo Varillas, and Karen Khachanov.