By Richard Pagliaro | @Tennis_Now | Tuesday, October 17, 2023
Carlos Alcaraz is fantastic all-court players with an "unbelievable" future, says Roger Federer.
The 20-time Grand Slam champion cautions it's not fair to compare the Wimbledon champion to Big 3 champions Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Federer himself.
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"Alcaraz is great. He's still young and everything that he has achieved is fantastic, not just on clay or the hard surfaces," Federer told the ATP Tennis Radio Podcast in an interview from Shanghai. “Winning Wimbledon against Novak [Djokovic] in the final is no joke. He didn't need to really prove that point but that's another super asterisk in his CV. It’s mighty impressive.
“Of course, as it was with Rafa [Nadal], Novak, myself, and [Andy] Murray, we all expect now every generation to produce their best tennis every single week, but it's hard to do that."
The 20-year-old Spanish superstar, who made his mark as the youngest ATP year-end No. 1 in history last season, has exceeded expectations, Federer said.
“I think Carlos has done as well as he possibly could have so far," Federer said. "And he's going to lose sometimes, like here in Shanghai, but he's doing fantastic.
“He's got a great game and obviously an unbelievable future ahead of him."
Though he comes from a clay-court nation and has hailed Rafa Nadal as one of his tennis heroes, Alcaraz credited Federer's artful elegance for his affinity for the lawn game and as a stylistic influence.
"I enjoying playing on grass. I mean, playing on grass is beautiful, and I would say the game of everybody become, you know, more beautiful, I would say," Alcaraz told the media in London during his run to the Queen's Club championship. "Serve and volley, return and volley, you know, slices.
"I would say Federer put elegance into play on grass. I am talking for me."
The Swiss stylist's elegance on court enchanted the young Alcaraz.
"Rafa is someone I've always watched," Alcaraz told Vogue earlier this year. “I admire him a lot. But Federer, the class he had, the way he got people to see tennis: That was beautiful.
"Watching Federer is like looking at a work of art. It’s elegance, he did everything magnificently. I became enchanted by him.”
Eight-time Wimbledon winner Federer says Alcaraz incorporates elements of each Big 3 champion into his game, but has his own unique style.
"Yes, he has a lot of power with the forehand, a little bit Rafa's style, also a little bit of mine, technically more like me potentially," Federer said. "You see the drop shots, how he uses the [slices], how he plays from the back as Rafa can and has Novak's defensive skills.
"Novak took them to an elite level, like Rafa on clay. But if Carlos continues to do it, we'll talk about it even more, and he has the potential to do that if he stays injury-free and all that."
Still, Federer asserts the beauty of tennis is in its individuality and says rather than drawing comparisons celebrate "Carlos is Carlos."
"Maybe there is a combination of everyone, but it is also not fair [to compare him to Big 3], because Carlos is Carlos, Novak is Novak and Rafa is Rafa," Federer said. "I don't like it when there are a lot of comparisons, I like it when everyone is themselves."
Photo credit: Carlos Alcaraz Instagram