Carlos Alcaraz shown areas needed to improve to become Novak Djokovic’s biggest rival by Tim Henman

Alcaraz won his second Grand Slam in 2023 by defeating Novak Djokovic in Wimbledon final.

Carlos Alcaraz shown areas needed to improve to become Novak Djokovic’s biggest rival by Tim Henman

Novak Djokovic (L), Carlos Alcaraz (R) (Sources: Imago)

Former British tennis player Tim Henman is of the opinion that Carlos Alcaraz can potentially become Novak Djokovic’s greatest rival if only he works on certain aspects of his game. In a recent interview, the 2003 Paris Masters winner talked about these very aspects and revealed how the Spaniard could soon overtake the Serb. 

Henman talked about Alcaraz’s performance this season. He pointed out that despite missing the first few tournaments of the year owing to an injury (i.e, he missed the 2023 Australian Open), he finished the season as the World No. 2 and was in the running to become the year-end World No. 1 until the very last tournament of 2023.

This shows what a great season the youngster had and no one can take that away from him. However, Alcaraz, according to Henman, should look into his fitness and make sure that he does not get injured this often in order to increase his longevity. 

FS Video
I mean, Alcaraz had an amazing year, winning his first Wimbledon title. He missed the early part of the year and he still finished No. 2 in the world. He was still in the race to finish No. 1 at the end of the year. He's still so young. He's still learning. You reflect on what happened at Roland Garros in the semi-finals, where after two sets, he suddenly got a terrible cramp.
Tim Henman in an interview with Eurosport

Alcaraz had a disappointing performance in the later half of the season. His performance started to dip after his loss against Daniil Medvedev in the semifinal of the 2023 US Open. It was probably due to the blow to his confidence that he started to consistently drop back-to-back poor performances, and he was downright horrible in the Asian swing. Thankfully, the Spaniard improved significantly in the 2023 ATP Finals. Hopefully, he will be back in his original form starting from the 2024 Australian Open. 

Tim Henman believes Carlos Alcaraz caves in under too much pressure

Henman pointed out that during the semifinal match between Alcaraz and Djokovic at the 2023 French Open, the youngster had a cramp, which led to his defeat. He suggested that the Spaniard has yet to learn how to handle pressure situations. Although fans got to see a much improved version of him at the Wimbledon final a few months later, the problem showed up again at the US Open. 

Carlos Alcaraz
Carlos Alcaraz (Source: Open Source/X)
I'm sure that was from the sort of nervous tension that went with playing that match against Djokovic. So, he's still got a lot of areas that he can improve on. He's got amazing all-round game, the versatility, but he's still so young. He's another one that just embraces challenges and he loves the competition. 

Alcaraz is one of the favorites to win the 2024 Australian Open alongside Novak Djokovic, Jannik Sinner, and Daniil Medvedev, i.e., the top 4 seeds of the tournament. This would give him the perfect start to the upcoming season and also make up for his disappointing performance in late 2023. 

In case you missed it: