By Richard Pagliaro | @Tennis_Now | Tuesday, April 18, 2023
Stefanos Tsitsipas has seen the way forward for tennis.
And he appears a bit like a champion with an excellent previous.
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Two-time Monte-Carlo champion Tsitsipas says Carlos Alcaraz’s good shotmaking, blinding court docket protection and burning aggressive need means he “could be the next Rafael Nadal of our tennis.”
Meeting the media in Barcelona in the present day, Tsitsipas mentioned whereas Nadal is absent, Alcaraz brings the identical highly effective presence to court docket as his tennis hero.
“He definitely offers a lot to our sport. And when he’s around, you can feel his presence and his energy and how hard he works for every point,” Tsitsipas mentioned of Nadal. “And his spirit, the spirit that he puts out on the court is an example.
“We have somebody that appears a bit bit like him, which is Carlos Alcaraz, by way of how he will get to each ball on the court docket and the way he covers just about half of the planet when he performs. “So they have a lot of similarities, and I think he [Alcaraz] could be the next Rafael Nadal of our tennis.”
Former Roland Garros runner-up Tsitsipas has crushed the Big 3, however he is been confounded by Alcaraz.
Riding his crackling topspin forehand and an audacious drop shot, Alcaraz shocked the third-seeded Tsitsipas 6-3, 4-6, 7-6(2), 0-6, 7-6(5) in a coming-of-age 2021 US Open third-round conquest. The then 18-year-old Spaniard made historical past because the youngest man to defeat a Top-3 US Open seed since 1973—and the youngest man to achieve the spherical of 16 in Flushing Meadows since a 17-year-old Michael Chang and 18-year-old Pete Sampras did it again in 1989.
A yr later, Alcaraz defeated Casper Ruud to win his maiden main on the US Open.
“Carlos is one of the most complicated and complete players I have ever faced,” mentioned Tsitsipas, who misplaced to Alcaraz 6-4, 5-7, 6-2 on the 2022 Barcelona. “In fact, I never beat him. I hope to improve if I have to play with him. I think our rivalry will extend over time.”
Photo credit score: Getty
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