Carlos Alcaraz shares secret behind his perfect record in opening matches in 2023

• Tennis News
• ATP Tennis

Carlos Alcaraz continued his perfect record at the start of the tournament after beating Gregoire Barrere 6-2 7-5 in his Shanghai Masters opener. In Shanghai, Alcaraz kicked off his 15th tournament of the year. In each of those 15 tournaments, Alcaraz clinched at least a win.

After his opening win in Shanghai, Alcaraz candidly confessed that he never feels the nerves at the start of the tournament. "Not really. Honestly, I don't feel the nerves at all at the beginning of the tournament. As I said, I just focus on what I have to improve, what I have to do better, that's all I'm thinking about.

I don't feel the nerves," Alcaraz said.

Alcaraz saw off Barrere in straight sets

Alcaraz made a great start to the match against Barrere, claiming back-to-back breaks to open a 4-0 lead.

Up by a double-break, Alcaraz held on to his service for the remainder of the first set to clinch the opener. After winning the first set, Alcaraz also clinched the first break of the second set in the seventh game for a 4-3 lead.

Down by a set and a break, Barrere refused to quit as he got the break back in the eighth game. However, blowing a second-set break didn't impact Alcaraz, who broke Barrere again in the 11th game before serving out for the match in the following game.

“I had just one practice here in Shanghai and then the match. I think he was more used to these conditions. He had more practice, a match in the bag, so it was really difficult to adapt my game in a new city, new conditions, but I think I did pretty well.

I played really focused, I tried to take lessons from the last match in Beijing and tried to be a better player. I tried to not make the mistakes I did in Beijing and I think today I did pretty well," Alcaraz said after beating Barrere.