Marion Bartoli tells Carlos Alcaraz and Holger Rune to take lessons from ‘perfect tennis athlete’ Novak Djokovic if they wish to play for a long time

Djokovic won his 12th grand slam title since turning 30 at the US Open last month

Marion Bartoli tells Carlos Alcaraz and Holger Rune to take lessons from ‘perfect tennis athlete’ Novak Djokovic if they wish to play for a long time

Novak Djokovic, Carlos Alcaraz and Holger Rune, Marion Bartoli (Credits: ATP and WTA)

2013 Wimbledon champion Marion Bartoli asked the young guns – Carlos Alcaraz and Holger Rune to follow 24-time Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic‘s footsteps if they want to stay on the top for the entire span of their career. Djokovic, current world no.1, holds the open-era record for the most Grand Slams won (12) after turning 30. The Serb also became the oldest man (36) to win the US Open in the Open Era after he defeated Daniil Medvedev in the final of US Open 2023.

Speaking on ‘Match Points’, a talk show by ‘Tennis Majors’, Bartoli showered praise on the world no.1 saying that he’s as close as it gets to a “perfect tennis athlete”. “The flexibility, the smoothness, everything moves freely,” she added, talking about Djokovic’s playstyle.

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The former world no.7 further said that she found similar attributes in Alcaraz and Rune. “That’s also why Carlos and Holger got so good so early, as well. So it’s the pros and the cons from what their game styles are and they way they are built physically, but for sure they we’ll have to watch out because if they want to last that long it’s going to take a lot out of both of their bodies,” Bartoli said, cautioning the 20-year olds.

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Alcaraz had to withdraw from the Australian Open earlier this year due to a hamstring injury. Scheduled to play in Acapulco in the month of February, he had to withdraw prior to the tournament after suffering another hamstring injury. Although the recurrence of injuries might be a cause of worry, Alcaraz has kept himself fit relatively well so far.

There are more reasons to worry for Holger Rune though. The world No 4 Holger Rune recently said that the ongoing back injury isn’t allowing him to play at the level he wanted and highlighted that resolving the issue is his priority.

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Marion Bartoli feels that Novak Djokovic has a slight edge over Carlos Alcaraz

Over the last year, Novak Djokovic has established a nail-biting rivalry against the young Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz. Although the pair have only faced each other four times, sharing the spoils, the matches have been memorable. Alcaraz stopped Djokovic from winning a 5th consecutive title at Wimbledon after he defeated him in a marathon 5-setter. Their most recent encounter was the longest Masters 1000 final ever, at the Cincinnati Masters. The new world no.1 avenged his loss in the Wimbledon final by edging the 3-set encounter that lasted 4 hours.

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Carlos Alcaraz and Novak Djokovic after the Wimbledon 2023 final (Credits : ATP)

Marion Bartoli believes that it’s hard to argue with the fact that Djokovic has the edge over the Spaniard at the moment. “I think we have to go deeper into the analysis and when you look at the season, there is one who won three Grand Slams and one who won one Grand Slam, it’s as simple as that,” Bartoli said. “And one who played four Grand Slam finals and one who played one,” she added.

Carlos Alcaraz got his Asian hard-court swing to a stunning start as he booked his spot in the semi finals after breezing past 7th seed Casper Ruud in the semi final of the ATP 500 China Open. The Spaniard has already sealed his spot in the year-end ATP Finals to be played in Turin, Italy from 12th November.

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