Carlos Alcaraz: Anticipation on the tennis court is like a goalkeeper facing a penalty

Carlos Alcaraz needed all the tricks in his tennis bag to pull out a win against American Taylor Fritz at the Nitto ATP Finals on Tuesday.

Alcaraz's 6-7(2), 7-5, 6-3 comeback against Fritz featured not one, but two hot shots that showed off his incredible anticipation and athleticism—and earned the praise of his beaten foe in the process.

Read more: Carlos Alcaraz battles past Taylor Fritz at ATP Finals for milestone 50th Top 10 win of career

"I don't know if there's probably ever been a match where someone's picked the right side on short balls against me more," Fritz said.

Exhibit A came in the first set, with the American serving at 5-5, 40-15. Fritz set up game point with a strong serve out wide, which Alcaraz did well to just get a racquet on and return the forehand. But Fritz didn't do enough with his follow-up backhand approach, and the Spaniard made him pay with an exclamation point: a running one-handed backhand pass.

Exhibit B came at a much more tense time for Alcaraz. Trailing by a set and staring down break point at 2-2, he turned a losing rally around with a lung-busting 18-shot point that finished with a clinical putaway at the net. The point came in what was a titantic hold of serve: an eight-deuce game that lasted more than 14 minutes.

Afterwards, Alcaraz said that reading the play in clutch moments is a lot like preparing to face a penalty kick on the soccer field.

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Q. Taylor praised your level after the match. He praised your sense of anticipation. He said Carlos is always guessing where the ball is going to go. Question is simple: how do you do that?

CARLOS ALCARAZ: Just I'm trying to be in his mind before he hitting (smiling).

I don't know. Just depends. We study a lot the players in some matches or in the easy balls where he's going to hit more often. Sometimes he change, the players change. But there are always a spot that he feel more comfortable to hit in a difficult moment or in a pressure moment. We study that and we try to have that instinct to go to that side and praying that he's going to be to that side.

I think today I went to the correct side couple of times. So probably after all he felt a little bit in pressure in that ball. That why he missed a little bit.

But it was just thinking about one side and go for it (smiling).

Q. Do you feel a little like a goalkeeper against a penalty? Same mindset more or less?

CARLOS ALCARAZ: Yeah, I mean, it is like a goalkeeper going for the penalty. It's just thinking about it, thinking like if I'm in his position where I should hit. That's why. Just think of one side and go for it. Sometimes it works, sometimes it isn't.*

Yeah, to do like that.

Now 2-0 in the Jimmy Connors Group, Alcaraz will face Lorenzo Musetti in his third and final match, with a win set to secure him the year-end No. 1 ranking.