Newly crowned Wimbledon champion Carlos Alcaraz believes the world of men’s tennis will have to wait a bit long before a new era of the sport begins.
The world No.1 has played down the suggestion that a changing of the guard is occurring following his triumph over Novak Djokovic at The All England Club on Sunday. Alcaraz was down a set in the final before fighting back to win in five. In doing so, he stopped his opponent from equalling Roger Federer’s record for most Wimbledon titles won by a man and prevented him from returning to the top spot in the ATP rankings.
However, the Spaniard believes that his latest triumph is not the start of a new chapter. Saying that the current era will continue to be centred around Djokovic, as well as his compatriot Rafael Nadal who is currently sidelined from the sport due to injury.
“I truly don’t feel that’s the case,” Alcaraz told news agency EFE.
“I think as long as Rafa (Nadal) and Djokovic are competing on Tour, fighting for big things, while they’re still playing, there won’t be a generational change. There won’t be a new era.”
Continuing to be inspired by the Big Three, 20-year-old Alcaraz feels that there is still plenty of room in his game despite his success at a young age. This season he has already won six ATP titles which makes him the third-youngest man over the past 40 years to have claimed so many trophies within the same year. The only players younger than him to do so were Andre Agassi in 1988 and Nadal in 2005.
“There are lots of things I need to iron out. Just like Djokovic when he started his career and had already won four or five Grand Slams, just like Rafa or Federer.” He said.
“They had a style and they kept improving. You’re never perfect, you never get to your 100 percent … I feel like everything I do I can do better.”
His desire for improvement is linked to the challenges he faces from others on the Tour. The prospect of having rivalries is something Alcaraz describes as ‘super important’ for his motivation for the future.
As to who he is forming a competitive rivalry with, he picked out his encounters with Italy Jannik Sinner who reached the semi-finals of Wimbledon this year. Their head-to-head is currently level at 3-3 with all of those matches featuring at least one tiebreak. Earlier this year, Alcaraz beat Sinner in Indian Wells before losing to him in Miami.
“It’s important to keep your motivation over a long time,” he explained.
“Right now, I feel like I have that and I’m not afraid to say it: for me, it’s Sinner at the moment.’
“That nice rivalry we’ve had, those great matches we’ve played on big stages (the 2022 Wimbledon and US Open). As the years go by, there will be even better ones, and we’re going to fight for the big titles.”
Alcaraz has earned $7,814,414 in prize money so far in 2023 which is more than any other player.
