Carlos Alcaraz on the sacrifices he had to make for tennis: "I couldn't hang out with my friends as much as I wanted, I had to come back home earlier than my friend"

Carlos Alcaraz spoke about the sacrifices he made to ensure he had the best possible foundations to build his tennis career on.

The Spaniard was off to a good start at the Rolex Paris Masters, defeating Yoshihito Nishioka 6-4, 6-4 to go through to the Round of 16, where he was up against Grigor Dimitrov.

Alcaraz won nine of the first ten games en route to an emphatic 6-1, 6-3 triumph against Dimitrov to progress to the quarterfinals. In their first tour-level match against each other, Alcaraz made light work of former World No. 3 Dimitrov, winning the match in just one hour and 12 minutes.

In a press conference after the match, Alcaraz touched upon everything he had to give up or sacrifice back when he was a child to be where he is now.

"Well, I could say I couldn't hang out with my friends as much as I wanted. You know, sometimes your friends tell me to go out, I mean, so late or I had to come back home earlier than my friends probably some the reasons that I gave up," Carlos Alcaraz said.

The 19-year-old stated that while he made a few sacrifices, he was "lucky" to not sacrifice everything in his pursuit of tennis greatness.

"I had the luck to didn't sacrifice some things at all. You know, I enjoy my time with my friends, but, I mean, I had to train really hard, I mean, with my team, my people, you know. But I would say I didn't sacrifice some things at all," he added.

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"It's just a number, it's just a ranking" - Carlos Alcaraz on being World No. 1

Carlos Alcaraz is currently the top-ranked player on the ATP tour.

In the same press conference, Carlos Alcaraz was asked what it felt like to be ranked the best player in the world. The Spaniard, who is the youngest man to be ranked No. 1 in the history of the sport, stated that while it felt great to be ranked No. 1, it was just a number at the end of the day and that his ranking doesn't guarantee him any match wins.

"It's a great feeling, you know, to let's say in a little part to feel the best player in the world. On this, it's a number. For me, it's just a number. It's just a ranking. Obviously it doesn't mean that you're gonna win every match, every tournament. You know, every players can beat you. I see like that, you know, right now," he said.

"I just feel I can lose every match, and that's the most important thing. You have to play your best match in every match or at least you have to try to play the best level in every match. That's what I see in that moment right now," he added.