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Motivation Quote by Carlos Alcaraz

"I’m not obsessed with being the best in the world. I’m obsessed with improving every day"

About this Quote

Alcaraz is selling a kind of ambition that’s easier to sustain than swagger: the focus shifts from a global throne to a daily practice. “Best in the world” is the loud, brittle metric tennis culture loves to weaponize with rankings, GOAT debates, and highlight reels. By rejecting that obsession, he’s not rejecting excellence; he’s dodging the mental trap where your worth rises and falls with one match, one surface, one headline. The line is a pressure-release valve disguised as modesty.

The subtext is savvy branding for a 21st-century athlete who’s grown up under constant surveillance. In the social era, confidence can read as arrogance and vulnerability can be spun as weakness. “Improving every day” lands as disciplined, relatable, and psychologically literate. It frames his hunger as process, not ego. That matters in tennis, where the calendar is relentless and the margins are microscopic: a slightly better second serve, a cleaner backhand pattern, a calmer brain at 5-all.

Context does a lot of work here. Alcaraz is already treated as a successor to the Big Three mythos, meaning every dip in form gets narrated as a crisis and every win as destiny. This quote pushes back on that script. It’s a way to reclaim agency: he can’t control the draw, the injury luck, the rankings math, or the comparisons. He can control the unglamorous repetition. The intent isn’t to sound humble; it’s to build a mental moat around his growth so the sport’s obsession machine doesn’t eat him alive.

Quote Details

TopicSelf-Improvement
SourcePress conference / interview remarks during 2023 season (ATP Tour interview coverage; exact phrasing varies by outlet)
CiteCite this Quote

Citation Formats

APA Style (7th ed.)
Alcaraz, Carlos. (n.d.). I’m not obsessed with being the best in the world. I’m obsessed with improving every day. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/im-not-obsessed-with-being-the-best-in-the-world-184367/

Chicago Style
Alcaraz, Carlos. "I’m not obsessed with being the best in the world. I’m obsessed with improving every day." FixQuotes. Accessed February 3, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/im-not-obsessed-with-being-the-best-in-the-world-184367/.

MLA Style (9th ed.)
"I’m not obsessed with being the best in the world. I’m obsessed with improving every day." FixQuotes, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/im-not-obsessed-with-being-the-best-in-the-world-184367/. Accessed 3 Feb. 2026.

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About the Author

Carlos Alcaraz

Carlos Alcaraz (born May 5, 2003) is a Athlete from Spain.

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