Did Carlos Alcaraz’s dad film Novak Djokovic in practice at Wimbledon? Probably, the Spaniard says – but he’s ‘just a fan’
- Asked whether reports of his father filming his rival are true, Alcaraz says he is ‘a huge fan of tennis’ and spends all day ‘watching practice from everyone’
- But he denies any such filming could give him a competitive advantage should the pair meet in Sunday’s men’s singles final
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Carlos Alcaraz roared into his first Wimbledon semi-final – before insisting his father was just “a huge fan of tennis” after he reportedly filmed Novak Djokovic practising as the Serb prepared for Friday’s last-four clashes.
Spanish top seed Alcaraz beat Denmark’s Holger Rune at London’s All England Club to set up a meeting with Russian third seed Daniil Medvedev, then admitted “probably it is true” when he was asked about the filming.
“My father is a huge fan of tennis,” he said. “He doesn’t only watch my matches. I think he gets into the club at 11am, gets out at 10pm, watching matches, watching practice from everyone.
“Being able to watch Djokovic in real life, yeah, probably it is true he’s filmed the sessions.”
US Open winner Alcaraz, through to Wimbledon’s semi-final stage for the first time, remains on track for a potential title showdown on Sunday with defending champion Djokovic, who faces No 8 seed Jannik Sinner of Italy in his semi-final.
But Alcaraz denied any filming would give him a competitive advantage over the Serb.
“I don’t think so,” he said. “I mean, I have a lot of videos from Djokovic on every platform. I think it’s not an advantage for me.”
Alcaraz admitted it had been tough to face his friend and fellow 20-year-old Rune, despite his impressive 7-6 (7/3), 6-4, 6-4 victory on Centre Court.
“It’s not easy to play against someone that I’ve played so many times,” he said. “When we were younger, we grew up together, same age. For me [he] is not really easy to play against.”
The world No 1 said he was looking forward to his last-four clash with Medvedev.
“He’s playing great here on grass,” he said. “He has had a great, great year as well … but I am going to enjoy the semi-final.
“I think I’m playing great, a lot of confidence right now. So it’s going to be a really good match I think.”
