Carlos Alcaraz praised for doing something on court even Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer didn’t

There are already comparisons being made between Carlos Alcaraz and legends like Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer.

Alcaraz dropped to number two in the ATP rankings following his loss to Jannik Sinner in the Monte Carlo Masters final last week.

Things didn’t get any better at the Barcelona Open, where he had to pull out after his opening-round win because of a wrist issue.

Even so, there have been plenty of bright spots for Alcaraz this year. He finished his Career Grand Slam with a win at the Australian Open, and Dominic Thiem believes he might one day surpass Novak Djokovic’s record for most major titles.

Carlos Alcaraz is expected to break Novak Djokovic’s Grand Slam record, according to Dominic Thiem

Thiem, who had a chance to hit with Alcaraz when he was just 16, spoke about the Spaniard on the BTA Podcast, pointing out something different from past greats.

The 2020 US Open champion spoke about how rare it is to see someone playing at such a high level while also looking so relaxed and happy during matches.

He suggested that this attitude could be what sets Alcaraz apart and even helps him reach beyond Djokovic’s record of 24 Grand Slam titles.

“You can see with him that he enjoys being on the court and he has that smile,” Thiem said. “When he plays that drop shot when even the fastest opponent cannot make it, he just smiles at his box and enjoys the shot that he made.”

“If he can keep that then I think it’s a combination where probably almost nobody can beat him if he can stay a bit of a kid. But with the ability of how he can play, the combination of those two is unbeatable.”

“He had some weeks where he was not playing that well and you could see that the smile was gone a bit, that he was not feeling that great on court and straight away the results went down…If he can keep that for many more years, he’s a contender to maybe even beat Novak’s Grand Slam record.

“I think this is the first time that a player who’s winning that much is also enjoying what they are doing so obviously. Because Roger, Rafa, Novak, they were never smiling that much. Sometimes maybe ironically, but not from deep inside I would say.”

Dominic Thiem picks four names who could step up to challenge Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner

Right now, Alcaraz and Sinner are the clear frontrunners in men’s tennis, having taken the last nine major titles between them.

That has led to plenty of talk about who might be able to break their hold on the game, and Thiem has put forward a few names.

He was also asked about Justin Engel but felt it was too soon to make any firm predictions about him.

“For example with Justin Engel, he has the potential, but he is still so young and you don’t know yet or you cannot say yet where he’s going to end up,” answered Thiem.

“Fonseca is really good, Joao Fonseca, he already proved it by winning Basel last year, so I think he’s already a contender for that. Mensik from Czechia is still so young and he won Miami last year. I think if he finds a little bit more consistency he’s going to be top 10 and he’s so dangerous, he beat Jannik in Doha, so he can beat anybody.

“Of course there’s the guys that everybody knows like Sascha [Zverev], Novak is still there, those guys I don’t need to mention because they can beat them also any day.

The Austrian also pointed out that there could be another emerging talent somewhere in the world whom we haven’t even heard of yet.

“What is also interesting to me, is that we all know that there might be a kid somewhere that is 13, 14 years now, who is somewhere in the world now and is playing amazing, and who is going to come up in three, four years and nobody knows him yet, that is always possible.”

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