By Richard Pagliaro | @Tennis_Now | Tuesday, May 21, 2024
Pure joy and historic quest fuel Carlos Alcaraz's major mission.
Wimbledon winner Alcaraz reiterated his ambitious aim: to someday surpass Novak Djokovic for GOAT status.
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Speaking to BBC's Russell Fuller for The Real Carlos Alcaraz on BBC Radio 5 Live podcast Alcaraz said his ultimate goal is to someday surpass 24-time Grand Slam king Djokovic's major mark.
"Yes, of course. I am an ambitious guy," Alcaraz told BBC's Russell Fuller. "I know it is almost impossible to break Novak's records but I’m playing tennis for myself, for joy and I want to do great things.
"I want to be part of tennis history."
It's a vision the 21-year-old Spaniard has had since his maiden major title.
A dynamic Alcaraz conquered Casper Ruud 6-4, 2-6, 7-6(1), 6-3 in the 2022 US Open final to capture his first Grand Slam championship and complete a riveting rise as the youngest man in the history of the ATP rankings to rise to world No. 1.
That victory came 19 years after Alcaraz's coach, Juan Carlos Ferrero, fell to Andy Roddick in the US Open final—and rose to world No. 1 the next day.
Coach Ferrero said after the 2022 US Open final, he believed Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner will not only build a rivalry to electrify the sport in the coming years they will combine to eventually dominate for a decade.
"The other day I said to someone in the press that maybe Sinner and Carlos could dominate the tour for maybe the next 10 years, from what I saw, the level that I saw the other day," Ferrero told the media after Alcaraz became the youngest men's US Open champion since Pete Sampras in 1990. "Of course, there's another players like Zverev, Thiem, Casper, Tsitsipas, they going to be there, they going to have opportunities to win Grand Slams for sure. But with all respect, that's what I think."
Speaking to the BBC's Russell Fuller, Ferrero said hard court is Alcaraz's best surface now and he believes the two-time Madrid champion, who grew up dirt, will win Roland Garros at least once.
"I think his best surface right now is a hard court," Ferrero told BBC. "He’s developed on these courts but we cannot avoid [that] the clay court is where he was born.
"I think he will win Roland Garros at least once: he has the game to do it."
Photo credit: Mike Newell/CameraSport