By Martyn Herman
LONDON (Reuters) – Carlos Alcaraz’s astonishing rise to the top of men’s tennis is a sporting miracle, according to one player perfectly placed to run the rule over the Spanish phenomenon ahead of Wimbledon.
Veteran Feliciano Lopez watched the rise to greatness of fellow Spaniard Rafa Nadal at close quarters.
Nadal, the currently-injured 22-time Grand Slam champion, is in the final throws of his illustrious career, but with impeccable timing, Spain has produced a player who has already shown himself capable of filling the void.
The 20-year-old Alcaraz won the Queen’s Club grasscourt title in scintillating fashion last week in what was only his third event on the surface — moving the reigning U.S. Open champion back to the top of the ATP rankings.
He will be seeded number one at Wimbledon and while Lopez still regards reigning champion Novak Djokovic as the favourite, he believes with Alcaraz anything is possible.
“I call him a miracle,” three-time Wimbledon quarter-finalist Lopez told Reuters at his farewell event in Mallorca this week. “Spain is not a big powerful tennis country compared to others and it’s crazy to see one great like Rafa about to end his career and then this kid from Murcia arrived.
“Winning a Grand Slam aged 19, being world number one. It’s astonishing.”
Even Nadal took a while to adjust his claycourt game to grass before winning the title in 2008 and 2010.
If anything, Alcaraz’s style is more suited to the lawns. He has a natural sliced backhand when required, volleys confidently, can launch huge serves and as for his forehand, it will leave burn marks on the hallowed Wimbledon lawns.
Alcaraz said the biggest challenge was learning to move on grass, but he erased those worries at Queen’s, winning 10 successive sets and saying he already felt like he had been playing on the surface for 10 years.
He reached the fourth round on his debut last year, losing to Jannick Sinner, but it would be a major surprise if he did not go well past that stage this year.
“I think he has the skills to be a great grass court player. He has great hands and moves really good and the movement on the grass is key. Not many players move the way he moves,” Lopez added.
“Before Queen’s he had played only six matches on grass but he’s so gifted and the gifted players can adjust quickly than the rest of the human beings.”
Lopez believes Alcaraz’s fearless approach will serve him well at Wimbledon.
“Of course he will have nerves, as we saw in the French against Djokovic. But he has the ability, like the truly great players, to survive and find a way. It’s not only his tennis and his physical strength, but he’s brave enough to challenge the best players in the game at such a young age.”
While Lopez is not entirely surprised by Alcaraz’s fast transition to grass, others are.
“I never thought that Carlos Alcaraz was going to be able to get used to grass so fast,” seven-time Grand Slam champions Mats Wilander told Eurosport. “For him to get this equation right seems incredible to me.
“To me, Alcaraz has already shown that he can win Wimbledon.”
(Reporting by Martyn Herman; Editing by Christian Radnedge)
