Carlos Alcaraz thanks ‘legend’ Andy Murray after receiving praise
Carlos Alcaraz has began his Miami Open campaign in style, with the Spaniard receiving plaudits from the likes of three-time Grand Slam champion Andy Murray.
Alcaraz beat Spanish compatriot Roberto Carballes Baena, 6-2 6-1, to continue his winning streak and move closer to completing the sunshine double.
And the 20-year-old was praised by the aforementioned Murray on social media, who said, “Watching Alcaraz play tennis makes me smile.”
The Wimbledon champion was informed of this after the match, to which he responded, “As I said many times, I play for myself and I play for my team. But also I enjoy it if people enjoy watching my matches. It’s pretty cool.”
Alcaraz continued, “I think for me it’s even better if a legend like Andy says something like this, that he enjoys watching my matches. It’s crazy, honestly. He has seen a lot of tennis during his career. Seeing these words from him for me is great. It’s something I try to do in every match.”
Andy!! ???????? THANKS MAN! ????
— Carlos Alcaraz (@carlosalcaraz) March 24, 2024
Murray was also coming off the back of a victory in Miami, beating 29th seed Tomas Martin Etcheverry in straight sets to win back-to-back matches for the first time since August.
The Brit will look to continue his run in Miami later today, when he plays Tomas Machac, who beat the former No.1 back in February.
SCENES ????
Look what it means as two-time champ @andy_murray reaches the third round at #MiamiOpen for the first time since 2016! pic.twitter.com/DRsfP73ibX
— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) March 23, 2024
Alcaraz has a day off before his third round clash, with the top seed taking on former top 10 player Gael Monfils on Monday.
Inside the baseline…
It was an incredibly impressive set of performances from both Carlos Alcaraz and Andy Murray, for very different reasons. Both players seem to enjoy the quick conditions in Miami as former champions and it is nice to see the mutual respect between two players that are from very different generations. Hopefully Murray can cause more issues for Tomas Machac today than he did against the Czech in Marseille earlier this year.
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