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Carlos Alcaraz said he’d rather happy about his game against Rafael Nadal than to…
Carlos Alcaraz said he’d rather happy about his game against Rafael Nadal than to…
Spanish 18-year-old Carlos Alcaraz was far from downhearted after a battling three-set loss to childhood idol Rafael Nadal in the semi-finals of the ATP Indian Wells Masters.
Alcaraz went toe-to-toe with the 21-time Grand Slam champion, taking the second set before succumbing, and the experience only increased his belief that he’s poised to take his place among the game’s elite.
“I think I’m more mature than last year,” Alcaraz said. “Now I know how to play against these kins of players. I played a lot of matches against great players. Second time against Rafa. I feel like I’m part of that level.
“I think I’m going to play against Rafa or the best players this year a lot.”
Alcaraz said going into the semi-final that he expected it to be a much different match than his only prior meeting with his superstar compatriot, when Alcaraz won just three games in a blowout in Madrid.
Carlos Alcaraz said he’d rather happy about his game against Rafael Nadal than to…
“As I said yesterday, this is going to be a different match than the first one. Now I think that I’m ready for the others.”
Alcaraz has been filling his resume with precocious achievements.
Last year he became the youngest man to reach the US Open quarterfinals in the Open Era and last month he won his second ATP Tour title at Rio de Janeiro.
So Nadal said he went into the match as he would any other high-level semi-final.
“I treated it like I played against a top-eight player. In terms of level, that was my feeling,” said Nadal, who believes Alcaraz has “all the ingredients” to become a champion.
Carlos Alcaraz said he’d rather happy about his game against Rafael Nadal than to…
Read More: Tennis Star Nick Kyrgios had Involved Ben Stiller in Fan Clapback During Match Against Rafael Nadal
“He has all the shots. He can play very aggressive. He can play defensive because he’s super fast,” Nadal said. “He can defend amazing balls. Of course, when he’s playing aggressive, it’s difficult to stop him because his quality of the ball is very high.”
Alcaraz was quick out of the gate on Saturday, breaking Nadal in the opening game and holding in a marathon second game to take a 2-0 lead.
But nevertheless he said he felt early-match nerves something he thinks he’ll be able to control better next time.
Read More: Nick Kyrgios launches furious rant as he loses to Rafael Nadal
“In the next time I will play more calm, more relaxed,” he said. “If you are playing with Rafa, you have to be calm, you have to think well in the tough moments. That’s what I learned in this match.”
After Alcaraz took a second set in which whipping winds affected both players, Nadal went on the attack.
Although the level was high from both players, Alcaraz, like plenty of players before him, ultimately couldn’t find an answer as Nadal forced the action at the net.
Read More: Indian Wells chief provides Rafael Nadal theory as he makes unbelievable comments
“I thought that I’m able to beat Rafa in some moments. But Rafa has a thousand lives.”
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Max Verstappen has once again claimed that he is the target of ‘British bias’ in the media after watching the fallout from his battle with Lando Norris. The three-time world champion’s defending was criticised by a number of drivers, including Lewis Hamilton.
Verstappen and Norris shared a titanic battle at the Circuit of the Americas last weekend, but the flashpoint came at Turn 12 as the Dutchman deployed a signature tactic, lunging deep into the corner to get to the apex first before running both himself and his title rival off the road.
Norris opted to keep his foot in and overtook the Red Bull driver around the outside, although this decision landed him a five-second time penalty that dropped him back behind Verstappen in the general classification. This sparked a major debate with other drivers – Hamilton included – calling for the FIA to take action and outlaw this style of defending.
Verstappen has been frustrated by this debate. Quizzed by Viaplay in Mexico on whether he’d like to see the rules changed, he replied: “No, not really. But I have the wrong passport.” Asked if he was referring to a British passport, he confirmed as much.
“Yeah, it’s the wrong country, on that aspect… with complaining” he replied. “I love my passport but on that aspect, I should have had a different passport, actually.” The Dutchman also complained of ‘British bias’ earlier this season following comments made by Adrian Newey.
When asked about the debate surrounding Verstappen’s on-track conduct, former title rival Hamilton was quick to point out that the Dutchman has been employing these tactics for some time, dating back to their no-punches-pulled fight in 2021.
“It’s always been a grey area, that’s why he’s got away with it for so long,” Hamilton explained ahead of the Mexican Grand Prix. “They probably need to make some adjustments for sure.
“Also, we do have inconsistencies through rulings, weekend in, weekend out, obviously depending on which years it is. I mean, as a sport, we do need to level up on all areas and if you look at other global sports, they have full-time refs, for example, and I’m sure that wouldn’t be a bad thing for our sport.
“I experienced it many times with Max, you shouldn’t be able to just launch the car on the inside and be ahead and then you go off and still hold your position. So, they need to definitely work on this.”
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$200M Jeff Gordon teams up with Chase Elliott and Co. to decode the HMS driver behind the “Don’t judge me” old tweet
Hendrick Motorsports vice chairman Jeff Gordon teamed up with Chase Elliott and other HMS drivers in a lighthearted fun exercise for fans where they attempted to solve the mystery behind an old tweet from their current driver.
The anonymous tweet reads, “Don’t judge me, but I can’t wait to see the new twilight movie haha,” and it’s believed to belong to one of the HMS’s driver lineups, which includes Elliott, Kyle Larson, William Byron and Alex Bowman.
Jeff Gordan, who has a net worth of $200 million (according to Celebrity Net Worth), and HMS drivers tried to guess, but none of them were correct. Bowman and Elliott named Byron, while Byron went with Elliott, but it was Larson. He accepted that it was his tweet in 2011 and revealed that he likes Catherine Hardwicke’s Twilight movie.
HMS shared the video of the fun investigative activity on Instagram with a caption:
“Hold on tight, spider monkey”
Watch the Jeff Gordon and HMS’s guesses below:
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DBjQ7EzP3A7/?utm_source=ig_embed&ig_rid=e5182e01-3688-440a-ae00-0bf669973e15&ig_mid=01331E07-1F15-4C86-B3DB-7587302F0125
Three out of four HMS drivers are still in contention for the 2024 NASCAR Cup championship. Larson and Byron are in good position in the playoffs points table, with 35 and 27 points above the cutline.
However, 2020 Cup champion Elliott is in danger of getting eliminated from title contention, as he’s 53 points behind the cutline heading to this weekend’s Homestead-Miami race.
In an interview with NBC Sports earlier this season, Jeff Gordon spoke about the competition between their two best drivers, Kyle Larson and Chase Elliott, for the regular season championship. Gordan wanted to see both top drivers perform well and race aggressively against each other while maintaining sportsmanship in their chase for the regular season title.
However, neither Larson nor Elliott won the championship; it was Tyler Reddick who clinched the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series regular season championship. Speaking to NBC Sports, the four-time NASCAR Cup champion Jeff Gordon said:
“I think it’s pretty clear at Hendrick how we expect teams and drivers to race against one another and how they’ve got to go and compete not only against their competitors but against one another.
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“Kyle Busch is an a**”: Brad Keselowski publicly chastised his fierce NASCAR rival in front of over 150,000 spectators
Kyle Busch and Brad Keselowski birthed one of the fiercest rivalries in NASCAR. The duo had multiple run-ins throughout their careers, but the seed of their feud was sown at the 2010 Xfinity Series race hosted by the Bristol Motor Speedway. In the aftermath, Keselowski publicly castigated Busch in front of over 150,000 fans during driver introductions.
Busch kicked off his Food City 250 from third place in his #18 Toyota while Keselowski began in 13th. However, as the 250-lap battle inched closer to its conclusion, the then-Penske Racing driver held the domination while the former #18 Joe Gibbs Racing driver fought hard for the lead.
After struggling to overtake for nearly a dozen laps, Busch, with 31 laps until the checkered flag dropped, lunged ahead of Keselowski, only to be wrecked from behind and lose the spot again.
However, the JGR driver quickly retaliated and spun out Keselowski’s #22 Dodge. The move propelled the #18 Toyota to the victory lane while the Penske driver fell from a potential win to settling in 14th place.
The bitter feeling inside Brad Keselowski surfaced during the Bristol Cup Series race driver introductions the following day. After Kyle Busch introduced himself, his fierce rival took the mic and blasted Busch with his “a**’ comment.
“Brad Keselowski, driver of the Penske Racing Dodge. Kyle Busch is an a**,” he said.
However, when asked why he slammed Busch, Keselowski said that Juan Pablo Montoya challenged that he can’t call the JGR driver an “a**”. It’s worth mentioning that the crowd’s roar on the Penske driver’s introduction notched 104.2 decibels.
“Sometimes you just don’t like a guy”: Kyle Busch publicly slams Brad Keselowski during their 2017 title fight
The bitter rivalry between Kyle Busch and Brad Keselowski was such that both made unapologetic comments about the other from time to time. Despite the latter publicly extending an olive branch to the former in 2015, their relationship remained sour.
Max Verstappen addresses ‘British bias’ at Mexican GP after Lewis Hamilton put-down
$200M Jeff Gordon teams up with Chase Elliott and Co. to decode the HMS driver behind the “Don’t judge me” old tweet
