“I don’t have any doubts that he will be great,” Rafael Nadal shares his admiration for this newbie
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Rafael Nadal and Carlos Alcaraz
Since August 2020, Carlos Alcaraz has ascended about 300 places in the ATP rankings. The 18-year-old is challenging some of Nadal’s records set when he first came to prominence in the mid-2000s as a teenager.
Rafael Nadal, a tennis legend, has given youngster and fellow Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz advice on how to become a “great champion,” emphasising the need of remaining humble. In a thrilling semi-final in Indian Wells on Saturday, the legendary Nadal upset compatriot Alcaraz 6-4 4-6 6-3. Nadal finds parallels between himself and Alcaraz in terms of their meteoric ascension in the sport. The 35-year-old is confident that the young Spaniard will reach the pinnacle of tennis.
“It looks like he’s humble enough to work hard and to understand that we, the tennis players if we want to be great champions, the only way is to keep improving during all our careers,” Nadal said after defeating Alcaraz. “That’s what I tried. I really believe that he’s doing that.”
The variety of the 18-year-old’s game, according to Rafael Nadal, is something that sticks out. “I think he has all the shots,” said Nadal after extending his unbeaten record this year to 20-0. “He can play very aggressive. He can play defensive because he’s super fast. He can defend amazing balls. Of course, when he’s playing aggressive, it is difficult to stop him because the quality of his ball is very high.”
Afterwards, the 21-grand slam champion elaborated more on Alcaraz’s future by labelling him as an “amazing champion” and anticipating that “he will be great”. “I think he has all the ingredients to become an amazing champion. I didn’t come to the match more nervous because I was playing a youngster. I treated it like I was playing against a top-eight player. In terms of level, that was my feeling. I don’t have many doubts that he will be great. He is already, by the way,” concluded Rafael Nadal.
Rafael Nadal to lock horns with Taylor Fritz in the final of the Indian Wells 2022
On Monday at Indian Wells, Rafael Nadal will face Taylor Fritz in the men’s singles final. If he wins the final, he will tie Novak Djokovic for the most ATP Masters 1000 victories in history, with 37.
Meanwhile, Fritz advanced to his first Masters 1000 final with a 7-5 6-4 victory against seventh seed Andrey Rublev and will attempt to become the first American to win the title since Andre Agassi in 2001.
Also Read: Rafael Nadal creates history by becoming the first male player to reach this HUGE milestone
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