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Carlos Alcaraz kicked off the Miami Open with the right foot. This past Saturday, he defeated fellow Spanish player Roberto Carballés Baena in two sets, winning 6-2, 6-1. To commemorate the occasion, Alcaraz shared a post on Instagram.
The post is made up of various photos of Alcaraz mid-match, wearing a purple and blue shirt with matching blue trunks. The post also included a video of one of Alcaraz’s most impressive points, showing him and Carballés battling out the point.
Alcaraz captioned the post in Spanish, sharing his excitement to be playing in Miami, one of his favorite places. “It stopped raining and I got my first Miami victory,” he wrote, adding the raincloud and the hands raised emoji. “Happy to be playing in such a special place to me.”
Before their match, Carballés discussed some of his personal history with Alcaraz, a player he’s encountered in the past considering the fact that they’re both Spanish and circulating the same pro-league circles. “I saw Carlitos play for the first time in Murcia. He was about 15 years old and the court was packed,” he said to the ATP. “Yes, he seemed very skinny and lacked physically, but he had a ball speed that was not normal for someone his age and we did see a different mentality in him.”
Alcaraz’s ‘friendly and simple’ nature
Carballés appears to have a lot of respect for Alcaraz, praising his nature and the fact that he remains the same guy he’s always been. “And then the progression that he has had surprised me, because I thought that he was going to suffer physically, but in a short time he reached a very high level,” continued Carballés.
“Carlitos is still the same one I met when he was 15 years old. He is super simple, friendly and always with a smile, he hasn't changed much.”
Alcaraz will be playing French player Gael Monfils tonight, at 7pm ET.