The American tennis legend has issued his sentence: the young champion has already done better than the Big Three
Second youngest player of the Open Era to win all of his first three men’s singles Grand Slam finals, with only Bjorn Borg – who completed the stunning hat-trick aged 20 years and 27 days – preceding him in the history. Youngest tennis player ever to achieve a Slam success on clay, grass and hard court (before him only the Australian Lew Hoad had achieved this, who had obtained his third different Slam at 21 years and 7 months in an era in which there was no professionalism yet).
It is all this, and much more Carlos Alcaraz, just turned 21 and a place already secured in the Olympus of the greatest in tennis. The phenomenon of Murcia, which with the victory in Paris also has Novak ousted Djokovic from second position in the world ranking, he is one of the two players who is preparing to take on, if he hasn’t already done so, the heavy legacy of the Big Three.
Precisely in the tournament that saw the exit of the legendary Rafa in the first round Nadal – defeated by Sascha Zverev, who Carlitos would later beat in the final – and the withdrawal of a bruised Djokovic on the eve of his quarter-final match, Iberian talent has taken flight.
After 2023 ended not in the best way, without winning a tournament, the designated heir to the left-handed man from Manacor also had to deal with the not inconsiderable forearm problem, which prevented him from participating in the tournaments in Barcelona and Rome. Redemption, however, would have been just around the corner.
Alcaraz, John McEnroe’s investiture arrives
The fantastic and successful comebacks completed in the semi-final against Jannik Sinner and in the last act against the German number 4 in the world certified the class of the young talent, capable of thrilling even a former legendary player with a very refined palate. Someone who knows what he knows, and who has seen great champions pass by both when he was still playing and subsequently.
We’re talking about John McEnroe, who commented in this way on Carlitos’ rise to the top of world tennis. “You have to love Carlos for everything he brings to the field. The most important thing is the smile he offers. That joy of competing that is difficult to feel, because it’s complicated to always have a smile when you’re stressed,” began the American.
Finally, the ruling that is causing tennis fans to discuss on social media: “For me Alcaraz is better than Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic at 21 years old“, commented McEnore who effectively crowned the Murcian talent by comparing him to the three great tennis players of the last 20 years.
