Rafa Nadal’s First Comments About Carlos Alcaraz Ring True Ahead of Wimbledon Quarterfinals

What Rafa Nadal said about Carlos Alcaraz when the young tennis player was first coming up in the sport rings true more than four years later after the Spaniard secured the fifth major of his career at the French Open earlier in the summer, and remains on course to challenge at Wimbledon

Alcaraz has showcased elite abilities in tennis’s top tournaments since 2022, when he won his maiden major at the US Open on a hard surface. Since then, he’s won twice on grass at Wimbledon, and twice on clay, too.

Nadal first played Alcaraz in an ATP event in 2021 at the Madrid Open. Though Nadal won in straight sets with scores of 6-1 and 6-2, the veteran was left impressed by the young whipper-snapper’s potential. And those words seem more relevant than ever, as Alcaraz makes his march toward a sixth major championship.

What Rafa Nadal Once Said About Carlos Alcaraz

Nadal told reporters following the second round win over Alcaraz that “somebody at his age” doing the things he was doing, was “something special. At the same time, he’s humble enough to keep working. He’s passionate about the game.”

“I really believe that he’s a complete player.”

Nadal continued: “He’s brave, he’s able to go to the net very often. Great forehand, great backhand.”

On the improvements he’d like to see from the phenom, he said: “Of course needs to improve a little bit the serve, but he’s just 18 today, so he has plenty of time. As I said, he’s humble enough and he’s a hard worker, so I don’t have a doubt that he will do it, no? His movement is great. He has plenty of ingredients to become a great player. That’s the main thing.”

The one thing that may hinder Alcaraz’s success was not himself, Nadal said, but the “quality of the big opponents” in front of him. “Nothing is easy in this life. Be one of the best players in the world and fight for the most important titles is something very difficult, but I really believe that he’s one of the guys that he can do it.”

Alcaraz returns to the court on Tuesday, the 8th of July, for his quarterfinal against the British player Cameron Norrie. The semifinals for the men’s singles tournament takes place Friday, before Sunday’s final.

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Novak Djokovic: Rafael Nadal wasn’t initially adored by tennis fans as many preferred the “most loved player” Roger Federer, but things changed once Novak Djokovic arrived on the scene.

That is the view of former world No 6 Gilles Simon in a wide-ranging interview.

The Big Three of Djokovic, Nadal and Federer dominated men’s tennis for the best part of two decades as they shared 66 Grand Slams between them and set numerous other milestones along the way.

Federer initially led the way as he made his major breakthrough at Wimbledon in 2003, but his stranglehold was broken when Nadal arrived in 2005 with his French Open title and they formed the Big Two.

Djokovic – who won his first major at the 2008 Australian Open – then made it the Big Three and he eventually went on to broke several of Federer and Nadal’s records, including the Open Era Grand Slam record as he sits on 24 with Nadal on 22 and Federer 20

But Djokovic has not always received the love and affection of Federer and Nadal as fans didn’t like the fact that he broke up the original Big Two.

In an interview with RG Media and CLAY, Simon says Nadal was also initially an outcast.

“Remember, Roger was the most loved player, maybe ever. And most fans didn’t like Rafa when he showed up,” the Frenchman said.

“But they started liking him more when Novak came on the scene. I’m 100% sure of it. Rafa became more appreciated once fans started comparing him to Novak instead of Roger.”

He added: “Novak was already better than most when he arrived, but he was still behind Roger and Rafa.

“I don’t think many people believed he’d surpass them — not even Roger and Rafa themselves. So when he started doing it, people didn’t like it. Everyone loved the Roger–Rafa rivalry. They didn’t want a third guy.”

Rafael Nadal