Carlos Alcaraz was straight back out on the practice court after booking a spot in his first quarter-final on the grass. The world No 2 produced a dominant display to beat Jiri Lehecka 6-2 6-3 in an hour and 25 minutes. And he decided to unwind with a makeshift game of mini golf.
Alcaraz is currently playing his first-ever grass tournament on the ATP Tour, having previously made just two appearances at Wimbledon. The top seed at Queen’s has been downplaying his chances but admitted that he would have to alter his expectations after a convincing performance on Thursday.
“After this match I can change my expectations,” he said during his on-court interview, “I play my first quarter-final on grass and this is a really beautful place to play. I will go into the next round full of confidence and I will go for it.”
And it seems Alcaraz wanted to tap into that confidence straight away, as he immediately booked a practice court after his 85-minute win despite having a hit earlier on Thursday. But there wasn’t much the Spaniard could do without a hitting partner on short notice so by the end of the session, his team turned to an unusual choice for his cool-down.
They strategically used the holes in the court that are used for the net posts and turned their rackets into mini putters, competing to see who could hit the ball into the hole. And Alcaraz was very vocal with his team when they failed to get a hole-in-one.
Earlier this week, the 20-year-old said he needed to put in as many hours as possible on the grass as he continued to adjust to the surface. “Honestly my expectation in this tournament are not too high,” he said after his first-round win over lucky loser Arthur Rinderknech.
“You know, I have played two tournaments on grass in my career. I’m not going to count the juniors obviously. It was two Wimbledons. I have played just five or six matches in my career. This is my seventh match.”
He added: “So I have not played too much on grass. So I have to, you know, play on grass, put hours on grass on my back and have more experience than that.
“Right now my expectations about winning this tournament are not too high. I’m just focused on, you know, play on grass, have hours, and getting ready into Wimbledon and of course have experience on grass.”
His cool-down game of mini golf is definitely one way to get extra time in on the surface at the Queen’s Club. Alcaraz will face either Grigor Dimitrov or Francisco Cerundolo in the quarter-final as he bids to win his 11th career title and first on grass.
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