Carlos Alcaraz admits Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal have special power that makes them unbeatable

Carlos Alcaraz explains why it is difficult to beat Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic.

Carlos Alcaraz admits Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal have special power that makes them unbeatable

Carlos Alcaraz with Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic

Spanish World No.2 Carlos Alcaraz has recently talked about the difficulties in playing drop shots against the tennis greats Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic. Alcaraz has a winning head-to-head 1-0 against Djokovic but trails Nadal 1-2. The Spanish wunderkind is on a break after the muscle injury sustained during pre-season that made him withdraw from the Australian Open 2023.

Alcaraz said, “Faced with Rafa Nadal, it must be recognized that it is very difficult to win a point on a drop shot, whether against him or against Novak Djokovic for that matter. I think they know very well when I’m going to hit a drop shot. They see the shot even before I realize it. And of course they run forward, you know, they always hit the ball. They are very good at that. Then they hit a counter-bump, and they win the point.”

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Alcaraz will be back in the Argentina Open 2023 after missing the first major of the year. The injury came at the wrong time for the Spanish as he lost the world No.1 rankings as well. The 19-year-old will be trying to regain the momentum he had during the US Open run last year in the coming months and he will be fully aware of the challenges ahead of him. (source: we love tennis, translated via google)

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Carlos Alcaraz will be trying to reclaim his World No.1 rankings

Carlos Alcaraz

The Spanish sensation had one of the best seasons ever by a teenager in tennis history last year. Carlos Alcaraz became World No. 1 at 19 years, 4 months, and 7 days, displacing Lleyton Hewitt‘s nearly 21-year-old record of being the youngest at 20 years, eight months, and 26 days. Apart from his maiden Grand Slam title at the US Open 2022, Alcaraz collected four other titles in 2022, which include two Masters 1000 tournaments.

Alcaraz’s run wowed the tennis world as he had to win three back-to-back five-setters before defeating Casper Ruud in the final. The pre-quarter-final five-setter was against Croatian former US Open Champion Marin Cilic. In the quarter-finals, he had to deal with his ‘biggest rival’ — Jannik Sinner. The match set a record as the second-longest match (5 hours and 15 minutes) in US Open history. The semi-final five-set triumph was against French powerhouse Francis Tiafoe.

After these triumphs, Alcaraz’s season took a complete U-turn. The problem started when he had to withdraw against Holger Rune in the Paris Masters Quarter-finals. Alcaraz was trailing 3-6, 6-6 (1-3) when his abdomen injury became unbearable for the Spaniard to continue. He also had to withdraw from the ATP finals 2022. Later in December 2022, Alcaraz played but looked out of sorts in the Dubai exhibition tournament. There he lost in straight sets against Andrey Rublev and Casper Ruud.

Despite missing the Australian Open due to a leg injury, the Spanish wunderkind will be looking to come back from where he left off in 2022 in the Argentina Open that starts the next week.

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