Alcaraz Weapon Separates Him from Nadal

By Richard Pagliaro | @Tennis_Now | Thursday, July 27, 2023

Carlos Alcaraz is a singular expertise with a scary weapon that separates him from Rafael Nadal, says Kei Nishikori.

The Wimbledon champion is a pace freak whose lightning-quick courtroom protection can spook opponents, Nishikori instructed ATPTour.com. 

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Seeing Alcaraz’s dynamic model of tennis helped encourage his personal comeback, former US Open finalist Nishikori mentioned.

“One thing I hope to get the chance to do is to play against these great young players like Alcaraz, Rune and Sinner at some point,” Nishikori instructed the ATPTour.com. “That’s part of my motivation to try to play for a few more years.

“I don’t think we have seen anyone like Alcaraz before. He looks like Rafa but he has more speed. Good defense, unbelievable forehand and he has a good backhand too.”

The 33-year-old Nishikori, who’s 2-12 lifetime towards Nadal, returned to the Tour in Atlanta this week the place he scored his first win since 2021. 

The 2016 Olympic bronze medalist mentioned he hopes present process hip surgical procedure will add further years to his profession.

“My hip was not too bad, not like Andy,” Nishikori mentioned. “We shaved some bone away and in addition I had a little bit little bit of a tear within the labrum. Had I stored enjoying with out the surgical procedure then I could have needed to do one thing like Andy did. But fortuitously, I discovered earlier than it received actually unhealthy.

“I talked to James Duckworth, who had the identical surgical procedure and I used to be actually shocked how shortly he got here again to enjoying. But he instructed me that he had some points, so maybe he got here again too early. I made a decision to take a little bit extra time.”

Photo credit score: @BNPParibasOpen