From Nadal to Carlos Alcaraz. Spanish tennis can count on the presence of another superstar for at least another fifteen years. This is not bad news for the movement. Nor for Toni Nadal, who left ‘Rafa’ to dedicate himself first to the training center and then to Félix Auger Aliassime.
After the extraordinary victory of ‘Carlitos’ on the concrete of Flushing Meadows, the most famous uncle in the history of tennis, obviously, commented enthusiastically. “In two weeks he has achieved what many tennis players dream of achieving throughout his career.
His record of precocity will be really difficult for anyone to beat”, explained Toni, who had never had any doubts about the potential of the Murcian. Although he never expected to reach the top of the ranking and win a Slam at 19 years and 4 months.
“I had first heard of him when I was 12 or 13 years old and I had first seen him play when I was 14 or 15 years old. Obviously, I was impressed,” he explained. “As he is, he has arm speed and leg speed that you don’t see anywhere else on the main tour.
We’re talking about an extraordinary player,” Toni said. Who in the course of a long interview with ‘El País’ also explained how Alcaraz is the tennis player with the most options to replace Nadal, Djokovic and Federer.
Alcaraz became the youngest number one in tennis history and the tenth teenager to win a Slam tournament. The list of records is endless, since it was not until 2022 that he achieved his first ‘500’ and his first ‘1000’, beating Nadal and Djokovic consecutively in Miami before triumphing in the final against Alexander Zverev, who is now immobile.
Alcaraz is really happy
In a recent interview with The New York Times, Carlos Alcaraz discussed his title win and claimed that he was lucky that Novak Djokovic wasn’t competing in the hardcourt Major at Flushing Meadows.
“Look, I don’t want to take credit away from myself but it’s true that Rafa, Djokovic, Federer, they were in a period when they were all playing. I had the luck or whatever you want to call it that Djokovic could not play.
Everybody has their reasons, but that is the reality,” Carlos Alcaraz said. “He could not play much for a while, and Rafa kept playing but not all year, either. But like I said, I don’t want to take credit away from myself.
I have been playing all season, playing incredible matches and incredible tournaments, and I’ve worked really hard so that things like this could happen,” he further added.
