Currently placed third in the ATP rankings, Carlos Alcaraz is considered by many to be the successor of Rafael Nadal, and also with the potential to be an all-time great. Alcaraz has been ranked as high as world no. 1 in singles, and has won 15 ATP Tour singles titles, which also consists of four Grand Slams and five Masters 1000 trophies.
Last week, Roger Federer was in Berlin for the Laver Cup, and he watched Alcaraz live, as the Spaniard sealed a straight-set win over Ben Shelton, and then beat Taylor Fritz as Team Europe secured their victory.
The tennis legend was full of praises about Alcaraz, but had a warning for the 21-year-old. Speaking to Stan Sport, the Swiss ace said, “His intensity, the power in his shots already, his physical capabilities that he has. Obviously he’s got to be careful, you know, (that) he doesn’t run basically for every ball because it’s not necessary. But he’ll learn that with age and with time. But also very strong (mentally) when it matters the most.”
Reflecting on his 2023 Wimbledon final win vs Novak Djokovic, Federer hailed his ‘incredible movement and power’. “Fifth set, this is stuff that we know that Novak thrives and plays at his absolute best. And for Carlos to come through that, I mean, for me, that’s when he showed like ‘OK, he’s the guy’ and he’s going to be around for a very long time… incredible movement and power,” he said.
Alcaraz was unstoppable at times this year, winning the French Open and Wimbledon titles. He had an early exit at the US Open, partly due to being jaded after the Olympics.
Meanwhile, at the Australian Open, he didn’t find any success, reaching the quarters, which is best in Melbourne.
When asked about Alcaraz’ chances of winning the Australian Open title next year, Federer replied, “Of course he can. And if you win all the other different majors, I mean, you can win Australia. He’ll be physically perfectly prepared. It’s not something, you know, like Wimbledon, where maybe you’ve got to skip the French Open if you want to give yourself the best chance, or if clay is not your surface, you’ve got to do an extra effort.”
“For him it (hard court) comes very natural, so I think he’ll have a really good chance of winning. I mean, the big matches are played at night as well, which is, I think, a bit slower for him. He’ll win an Australian Open, (the) question is when, he’s had the most incredible career already. I mean, it’s fantastic that he’s already got four slams without talking about all the other stuff that he’s already achieved. Fantastic effort,” he added.
