By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Friday May 6, 2022
It has taken some talented players many years to believe that they can win a Grand Slam. Not Carlos Alcaraz. The 19-year-old says he believes he can win one now.
After becoming the youngest champion in Madrid Open history on Sunday, Alcaraz told reporters that he has faith in his abilities against any and all comers.
“Yes, I think so,” he said. “I think I am ready to win a Grand Slam. I think I am ready to go for it. It’s a goal for me this year, to try to get my first Grand Slam, but I am going to work for it and let’s see what is going to happen at Roland-Garros.”
It’s not that difficult to imagine Alcaraz coming through at a major this season, given how impressive he has been against all players he has faced in 2022. The Spaniard has won his first two Masters 1000 titles in succession, at Miami and Madrid, on two different surfaces. This week in Madrid, Alcaraz became the first player to defeat both Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal at the same clay-court event.
“He’s not an up and coming player anymore – he’s already an established top player,” Djokovic said prior to Madrid. “His rise to the top 10 of the world is incredible and super fast. To show that much maturity, mentally, also gamewise for someone who is 18 years old is very, very impressive. There’s a lot of superlatives going around for him and his game from many different former champions and I think we all agree that he is the future of the men’s tennis, but also the present.”
Alexander Zverev, who was demolished by Alcaraz in Sunday’s final, said this of the 19-year-old:
“I think right now you are the best player in the world. It’s great to see, for tennis, that we have such a new superstar who is going to win so many Grand Slams, who is going to be World No.1, and who is going to, I think, win this tournament [Madrid] many, many times.”
Alcaraz improves to 5-0 lifetime in finals, and is the youngest five-time champion on tour since Nadal in 2005, and one of just six players in Open Era history to have won his first five ATP finals.
He is slated to play in Rome next, where his opponent would be Cristian Garin after his first-round bye.