"Yes, he is able to overtake Nadal": Alcaraz becomes the "new king of tennis" - voila! sport

2022-09-12T04:26:04.658Z

After his historic win at the United States Championship and his promotion to number one in the world rankings, the Spanish prodigy is wary of making statements, but his men are doing it for him

"Yes, he can overtake Nadal": Alcarez becomes the "new king of tennis"

After the historic win in the United States Championship and qualifying for first place in the world rankings, the Spanish prodigy is careful about making statements, but his people do it for him: "He only realized 60 percent of the potential."

Nadal congratulated, Casper Rod also already knows: a legend is in the making

Voila system!

sport

12/09/2022

Monday, September 12, 2022, 06:40

Share on Facebook
Share on WhatsApp
Share on Twitter
Share by email
Share in general
Comments
Comments

Summary clip of the day in sports, 11.9 (Sport1)

"The Alcras era has begun", "The new king of world tennis".

The Spanish sports media is used to exaggerating when it comes to local success stories, but in the case of Carlos Alcaraz it seems any compliment would be well deserved.

The rising star of world tennis has been considered a big promise for some time now, but it seems that after winning tonight (between Sunday and Monday) at the United States Championship after a 4:6, 6:2, 6:7 (1), 3:6 victory over Casper Rude already It can be stated that this is a special phenomenon, perhaps a legend in the making.

Alcaras, who celebrated his 19th birthday in May, became the youngest number 1 ever by winning, breaking the record of Leighton Hewitt who did it at the age of 20 and 8 months.

He is also the youngest winner of a Grand Slam since Rafael Nadal won Roland Garros in 2005, when he was also 19.

"It's crazy, just crazy," said the emotional Alcarras at the end in a throat choked with tears.

"I never thought I would reach such achievements at the age of 19. Everything happened so fast, and it's just unbelievable. I've dreamed of this since I was a child, since I started playing tennis. To lift this title, it's just an amazing feeling."

The moment that will mark the change of power in tennis?

Alcaras lifts the trophy (Photo: Reuters)

The Spanish media is celebrating with Alcaras

twitter

"Carlitos", as he is known in Spain, went through an arduous and difficult path in New York.

On the way to the final, he played five matches of five sets, and the victory in the final was not easily achieved either, after the Spaniard saved two points from the set of Rod Best in the third set and once again proved that besides the rare talent, he also has the character required to become a superstar.

In total, Alcarez spent 23 hours and 39 minutes on the courts in New York - the most playing time ever for a single player in a Grand Slam tournament (and 20 minutes more than the previous record held by Kevin Anderson, who played 23 hours and 20 minutes at Wimbledon 2018).

"The last two weeks have been tremendous and have included some very difficult games," Alcaras wrote on Twitter.

"Thank you to New York for the support, the energy on the field was inexplicable. And thank you to all the people on the other side of the world who stayed up early in the morning to support me."

Rafael Nadal, to whom Alcaras is compared, hastened to congratulate and tweeted: "Congratulations to Carlos on his double achievement. I am sure that this victory is only the first of many that will come in the future."

Alcaras, for his part, commented on the comparison and said: "I have one Grand Slam, Rafa has 22. I'm only at the beginning."

twitter twitter

But Alcaras' coach, the former tennis player Juan Carlos Ferrero (who himself was ranked number one in the world, sometime in September 2003), is already ready to declare that this is an extraordinary talent, which may still be equal to the giants of the industry, including names like Nadal, Roger Federer and Novak Dag 'Vokovich'.

"He has both the talent and the character to become a historic tennis player, one of the greatest of all time. I estimate that right now he has scraped 60 percent of his talent, so he still has a lot to grow professionally, physically and mentally. It will be very difficult to reach the achievements of the big three (Nadal, Djokovic and Federer), but who knows - maybe Carlitos will overtake them and become the greatest tennis player of all time. I have to set high goals for him, because that's the only way he will realize his potential."

According to Ferrero, "Carlos was born to play in these big tournaments, to play in big games like this final. From the moment I first met him, I saw that there was something special and extraordinary about him. I still see it every day on the field. In the important moments of the game, he is always Fights, always dares. He is a great fighter."

Even Kasper Rood, who missed an opportunity to rise to the top of the world himself, admits that Alkaras is already an exceptional tennis player.

"He is one of those rare talents that pops up once every many years in all kinds of sports. That's how it looks right now. We'll wait and see how his career develops, but for now it seems to be going in the right direction."

Even Rod can't deny: Alcaras is a rare talent (Photo: GettyImages, Diego Souto/Quality Sport Images)

Alcaras, for his part, knows that success also has a price - and hopes to stay with both feet on the ground to continue to establish himself as one of the stars of world tennis.

In the meantime, he has already committed to participate with the Spanish team in the Davis Cup matches next week, so he will not be able to stay on Olympus for long.

"Success will not change me. I will return to Spain, meet my family and celebrate with them modestly. It is clear to me that I must work very hard to win more titles and to stay at the top," he says.

"I need to improve mentally, physically, and also in terms of tennis there is where to strive. I must not stay in my comfort zone. Tomorrow morning, when I look in the mirror, I will be the exact same boy, who is proud to be Spanish from Murcia. I love my people, I love my family, and no want to change".

The mental challenge is just beginning.

Alcaras (Photo: Reuters)