Carlos Alcaraz will have to defend his status as ATP number 1 in 2023. The 19-year-old Spaniard had a dream season, in which he reiterated that he was predestined. ‘Carlitos’ won the US Open and became the youngest No.
1 in men’s tennis history, an astounding achievement for such a young player. Juan Carlos Ferrero’s pupil enriched his season by also winning two Masters 1000 (Miami and Madrid) and as many ATP 500 (Rio and Barcelona).
The Murciano took off the whim of beating two sacred monsters like Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic at the Mutua Madrid Open, leaving both fans and insiders stunned. His performance dropped slightly in the last part of the season, also due to some physical problems.
A torn abs forced him to miss the ATP Finals in Turin and the Davis Cup finals in Malaga. In the latest edition of ‘ATP Tennis Radio’, Alex Molcan reflected on the incredible rise of Alcaraz in 2022.
Alex Molcan opens up on Alcaraz
“Carlos Alcaraz is playing so fast, it’s incredible,” Alex Molcan recently said on the ATP Tennis Radio Podcast.
“He’s playing crazy aggressive. He’s fit, he runs, he catches everything. Also Djokovic, he is also running incredibly. But they are different players. With Alcaraz, it was a tough match actually, it was really tough.
Once you hit a short ball to his forehand, it’s probably over. So that’s different,” he added. “But Djokovic, when I was playing against him in Roland Garros, I was a little bit stressed. It was on Suzanne Lenglen, you know,” Molcan said.
Ivan Lendl is the latest name in the tennis world to shower praise on World No. 1, Carlos Alcaraz. “I don’t know that. I don’t look at it that way. I know Carlos Alcaraz is coached very well. He has a great team around him.
Those guys are very, very good at what they do, the Spaniards. And Juan Carlos Ferrero is fantastic and they’re teaching him well, they’re teaching him the right things, they’re teaching him all the protocols. He’s an extremely polite young man.
He’s great. The Spanish guys do something very good. The French guys do that as well. They retain their former pros and plug them into the programs,” Lendl expressed. Alcaraz recently stated that his goal for 2023 was to win his second Grand Slam.
“I want more. To win my second Grand Slam, I would say that’s the goal for the new year. Wimbledon would be fine for me. Yeah,” Alcaraz said.
