Carlos Alcaraz ignores Novak Djokovic to make staggering 'Federer and Murray' remark ahead of Wimbledon

20-year-old Carlos Alcaraz is considered the future of men’s tennis, and with those high expectations comes the pressure of living up to greats of the past. Alcaraz has already proven his quality and skill on hard courts and clay courts, but his potential on grass courts remains a mystery, as he enters only the third Wimbledon of his career next week.

In the lead-up to Wimbledon, Alcaraz is participating in the Queen’s Club tournament in London, where he is trying to put hours into his grass court practice in a competitive environment before the big stage at SW19. He has entered the quarterfinals, dispatching Jiri Lehecka of Czechia very confidently in his match yesterday. Equally as important as the practice hours at Queen’s, a victory at that tournament will mean Alcaraz would regain the top ranking spot on the ATP tour, having lost out to Novak Djokovic after the Serb won Roland Garros earlier this month.

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He enters Wimbledon as 7-time champion and the standing favourite — but Alcaraz revealed it wasn’t necessarily his game he was necessarily trying to emulate.

Speaking of his preparation process for matches and the Championships at Wimbledon as a whole, the Spaniard said “I watch some videos about my opponents first, and then, you know, I have a lot of time to watch videos, to learn from the best players in the world, Andy (Murray), Roger (Federer), Djokovic. Right now we are on grass and I want to look up to the best players on grass and movers.” That trio has a total of 17 of the last 19 Wimbledon titles, and have widely been considered the best grass court players of the last two decades.

“You know, on grass, Roger and Andy for me are the best players that are moving great on grass,” continued the young Spaniard. “So I want to be the same, you know, like them. I'm not talking about Djokovic because Djokovic slides like clay court, and not my case, but I try to put similar stuff in my game that Roger and Andy does in grass.” Alcaraz’s comments prove just how much of a unicorn Djokovic is on grass courts, and how that might explain his success over the last decade at Wimbledon.

Sliding around the court allows the Serb to play his defensive shots, which are all-important on the attack-friendly grass courts, with more balance and precision, while also giving him the opportunity to reposition quickly. While players can master this on clay and hard, which support sliding, it is nearly impossible to do on grass without slipping, which makes it a difficult surface to play on and makes Djokovic’s ability and flexibility all the more remarkable.

“You have to be more focused on the footwork here. Talking from me, I can't slide as I do on clay or on hard court, so you have to know that and, you know, practising from that part, you have to adapt your moves or your hit on grass,” said Alcaraz of his preparations. Murray is also at the Queen’s Club tournament, but lost out to Australian speedster Alex De Minaur int he early rounds.

The Scotsman, who won the tournament in 2013 and 2016, is also considered one of the finest defensive players of all time, and Alcaraz has shown a similar tenacity and willingness to put his body on the line as him, factors which will serve him well on grass courts. Federer’s 8 Championships, meanwhile, were earned through breath-taking attacking play: many pundits and experts have compared Alcaraz’s nimble footwork to Federer’s, and it therefore makes sense that Alcaraz looks to take greater experience from Wimbledon’s greatest ever male champion.

Alcaraz has already won the US Open, and reached the semifinals of the French, but will be looking to leave a mark on the most prestigious tournament of them all. He lost out to fellow rising star Jannik Sinner in a tight and tactical 4-set encounter at last year’s Championships, and will be looking to outdo that performance. Before that, however, he prepares to make a run at the top seed with the trophy at Queen’s. He plays former Wimbledon semifinalist Grigor Dimitrov later today.

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