“Carlos Alcaraz is going to win so many of these big titles” Tim Henman believes the Spaniard is the real ‘Next Gen’, puts him above Zverev and Tsitsipas
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Carlos Alcaraz, Alexander Zverev, Stefanos Tsitsipas
18-year old Carlos Alcaraz gave another testament to his talent when he defeated World no. 8 Casper Ruud in the finals of the 2022 Miami Masters to become the youngest champion of the tournament breaking Novak Djokovic‘s record when the Serbian won the title in 2007 at the age of 19. The win saw Alcaraz break into the Top-15 and is now only 29 points away from entering the Top-10, all before his 19th birthday.
Since his 3rd round exit in the 2022 Australian Open when he was beaten by eventual semi-finalist Matteo Berrettini, Alcaraz went on to win the ATP-500 Rio Open 2022 on the clay courts and now has a Masters title on the hardcourts. As he continues to rise with impressive performances on the Tour, former British Pro Tim Henman heaped praise on the Spaniard for his performance in Miami and achievements so far in his short career.
“It was an incredible performance. These are images (of Alcaraz celebrating a Masters 1000 title) that we are going to see many more times in the future. All aspects of his game have been absolutely incredible. You look at how quickly he’s developed. He’s still only 18, so to see him perform at this level, how aware he is and the attitude on the court – he’s just dealing with everything thrown at him and he was in a different league out there today.
“It’s a huge moment for Alcaraz and a huge moment in our sport. This is his first Masters 1000. You’d say hardcourt is not his preferred surface, so moving forward the sky really is the limit. When you break down his game and with him being so young still, there are areas he can improve on and that’s the scary element. His rise has been so quick and if he continues with this attitude and game style it’s frightening to think how many big titles he’s going to win,” said Henman speaking on PrimeVideo.
“Carlos Alcaraz has the confidence, maturity and belief”: Tim Henman
With the ‘Big-3‘ reaching the final few years of their careers, the hunt for the next dominant set of players has been going on for a while now but no one has been able to capitalise or step in their shoes. While Daniil Medvedev and Dominic Thiem have both won a major each, others like Alexander Zverev, Stefanos Tsitsipas and Andrey Rublev are yet to prove their tags of being contenders to be dominant on the Tour.
“There’s been such dominance of that Big 3. You throw (Andy) Murray and (Stan) Wawrinka into that equation but that group is getting older and won’t be around forever. We’ve been thinking of who will step in and take advantage. (Alexander) Zverev, (Stefanos) Tsitsipas, (Dominic Thiem), (Felix) Auger-Aliassime… There have been a lot of them in and around the conversation.
“But when you see Alcaraz put in a performance like this and the way he has been developing, he’s just getting better and better. He has that confidence, maturity and belief in his game to give him the opportunity to win more and more in the future. He’s going to win so many of these big titles, that’s for sure,” said Henman further.
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Sarthak Shitole
(3462 Articles Published)