“90% of the locker room has no chance,” Carlos Alcaraz stated for a long reign as World No. 1 believes Mats Wilander
Carlos Alcaraz receives big praise from Mats Wilander who puts the teenager in the bracket of Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic among active players on the Tour.
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Mats Wilander and Carlos Alcaraz
Carlos Alcaraz got back to the World No. 1 spot after clinching the 2023 Indian Wells Masters title. He overpowered Daniil Medvedev to win his third career Masters-1000 title and replaced Novak Djokovic at the top. The teenager has now resumed his second stint as World No. 1 having earlier spent 20 weeks at the top.
While this battle between the two is certainly exciting, former World No. 1 Mats Wilander believes, it is now a two-horse race. The Swede great, who won seven Majors during his illustrious career, praised Alcaraz great comparing and placing him above all of his contemporaries. Wilander emphasized only Djokovic and Rafael Nadal are capable of troubling Alcaraz among the current crop of players.
“He’s going to be one of the best players of all time. He’s going to be No. 1 in the world for many years during his career. Now, whether he stays there now or not I don’t know, and I did not know that after watching the US Open last year. Now, after destroying Medvedev in the [Indian Wells] final, 100% I believe that Carlos Alcaraz has more than what it takes to be the No. 1 in the world because even I got to No. 1 in the world and he has literally everything.
“It’s about match-ups for him. There is about 90% of the professional tour that he’s not going to have any problems with, and that is now what Djokovic, Federer, and Nadal have done in tennis for nearly 20 years. Now, 90% of the locker room has no chance, and 10% he might have to worry about,” said Wilander speaking with Eurosport.
Novak Djokovic in a position to replace Carlos Alcaraz as World No. 1 before Clay
Rafael Nadal is now officially out of Top-10 after spending nearly 18 consecutive years in the Top-10 club. The 22-time Major winner broke into the Top-10 for the first time in 2005. His recent injury struggles however let him down as he fell to World No. 13 after the rankings were updated upon the conclusion of Indian Wells.
It seems only Novak Djokovic is the one to even challenge Carlos Alcaraz in the rankings. Going into the 2023 Miami Masters, Alcaraz and Djokovic are separated by only 260 points. If Alcaraz fails to defend his title, Djokovic will head into the Golden Swing as the World No. 1 once again. While the likes of Casper Ruud, Alexander Zverev, and Stefanos Tsitsipas came agonizingly close to reaching the summit of the rankings, they were still unable.
Barring Daniil Medvedev, only Alcaraz has been able to reach the World No. 1 spot apart from the Big-4. While Medvedev struggled massively in the 2022 season, Medvedev has performed much better and can be the other big threat for Alcaraz this season. Although with the Clay season starting, Medvedev’s track record doesn’t make him a serious rival but you never know with the Russian.
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