By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Tuesday, July 5, 2022

Carlos Alcaraz hasn’t fulfilled the dream of becoming the first teenager to win a major title since Rafael Nadal in 2005 (he'll have two more chances, at the 2022 US Open and the 2023 Australian Open), but the 19-year-old Spaniard is still making massive strides on the Grand Slam stage.



In his last four major appearances he has racked up 13 wins, and has not lost to a single player outside of the Top-15. This week at Wimbledon he fell to Jannik Sinner in the round of 16 but the Spaniard, who entered the fortnight with just one grass-court win to his name, feels like he took a big step on tennis’ trickiest surface.

“I felt really well here in Wimbledon playing on grass,” he said after falling to Sinner 6-1, 6-7, 6-4, 6-3 on Saturday. “I got a lot of experience playing on grass. Now I'm thinking that I could be a great player on grass.

“Next year hope to play some tournaments before here in Wimbledon to adapt my game to get used to playing here on grass.

“But I would say I'm going to be a great player here on grass.”

Alcaraz says he looks forward to having a rivalry with Sinner in the years to come. The Italian fell in five sets to Novak Djokovic on Monday but did become the first ATP player to reach three Grand Slam quarterfinals since Juan Martin del Potro in 2008.

Alcaraz envisions a future of facing Sinner on the biggest stages.

“I'm going to try to be one of the best tennis player in the world for many years,” Alcaraz said. “Obviously Jannik is one of the best tennis players in the world as well. For sure he's going to be in the top for many years. I hope to have a good rivalry with him. We hope to fight for the best tournaments in the world and the best moment in the world together.”