Carlos Alcaraz makes honest admission about how his one negative habit impacted his tennis

Carlos Alcaraz has admitted that there was a time when a negative habit of his ended up being detrimental to his game. The Spaniard is currently competing at the first Masters 1000 event of the European clay court swing, the Monte-Carlo Masters, and is treating his fans to some fiery tennis.

Alcaraz, seeded second at the event, received a bye into the second round, where he kicked things off with a strong win from a set down against Francisco Cerundolo. He then claimed a comfortable win over Daniel Altmaier 6-3, 6-1 in the third round to reach his first quarterfinal in Monte-Carlo.

During a post-match interview with the Tennis Channel, Carlos Alcaraz was asked if he was focused on the rankings, to which the 21-year-old responded that he used to do that, and it was harming his tennis. The World No. 3 then expressed his love for the sport and said he was trying to shift his focus to this game instead of the rankings.

"I've been paying attention to the ranking, to the stats, and I think it's the wrong thing to do. Right now, I realize that I have to just play right now, because I love playing tennis, I love stepping on the court, just put on a show, just show good tennis, forget about the ranking, forget about everything. I realize that I had to do that and I think in the clay, on the clay season, on the clay tournament, I'm gonna try to do that and forget about everything and just play."

Alcaraz also gave his thoughts on his next opponent, who is been playing some dangerous tennis and ousted seventh seed and former champion Andrey Rublev in the third round.

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"It’s gonna be difficult" - Carlos Alcaraz opens about playing Arthur Fils in the Monte-Carlo Masters quarterfinals

Carlos Alcaraz - Source: Getty

During his on-court interview (via The Tennis Letter), Carlos Alcaraz expressed his delight at returning to clay and later shifted his focus to his quarterfinals opponent, Arthur Fils, adding how the two men are going to put on an 'interesting match'.

“I’m just really happy to be on clay again. It has been a really good season so far. Probably struggling a little bit in the last one, but coming on clay, which is a surface I love playing on and the surface I grew up playing on.. it’s great to feel it again. I’m playing a QF here for the first time. It’s gonna be difficult against Arthur Fils, who’s playing great tennis lately. He’s having a great season so far. So it’s gonna be an interesting match. I think it’s the first time I’m gonna play him. I think it’ll be beautiful to play, beautiful to watch. Hopefully the people are gonna enjoy.”

The winner of the match between Alcaraz and Fils will play either Alejandro Davidovich Fokina or Alexei Popyrin in the semifinals of the Monte-Carlo Masters.