Rafael Nadal won 92 career titles before retiring last year, while Carlos Alcaraz just has 18 titles at this point in his career.
Carlos Alcaraz, Rafael Nadal, and Boris Becker (X/The Tennis Letter/BBC)
For the past few months, there have been focus on the comparison between Carlos Alcaraz amd Rafael Nadal. The duo shares unique resemblance in their style of play and are from the same country. However, Boris Becker believes that media must be very careful about the comparison as Alcaraz is still very young.
Alcaraz made his career breakthrough at the US Open in 2022, where he claimed his first career Grand Slam. At just 19 years and four months of age, he became the seventh youngest player to win a major title since the Open Era. That same year, he also went on to finish the season as World No.1, becoming the youngest player to achieve the feat.
The 22-year-old now has four Grand Slams, and heâs pursuing more. He is believed to be the player to take over from Nadal shortly. However, Nadal won 92 titles, including 22 majors, and was one of the greatest players of his generation. The Spaniard has also been picked as the upcoming GOAT of tennis by several former and current players.
Becker, who claimed six majors, was asked about the comparison between Nadal and Alcaraz. The 57-year-old German recognized that one of the difficulties of breaking through so young is the pressure placed on the player, especially when thereâs a comparison between the youngster and a legend.
He is still very young and the best is yet to come, but it is impossible to guess how long a tennis player will remain at the elite level. I hope Carlos plays for another 10 or 15 years because for me he is the most exciting tennis player in the world right now, but the Spanish, especially the journalists, have to be careful and not judge him so harshly every time he loses a match because he is a very different player from what Nadal was.
Boris Becker said via EL Mundo
Alcaraz has won only eighteen career titles at just 22, which means he still has a long way to go before reaching Nadalâs heights. The Spaniard has won only two titles this season and six in the past sixteen months.
Carlos Alcaraz reveals what he does to beat his arch-rival Jannik Sinner
Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner are the two major competitors in the ATP. Both players have taken over from the Big 3, by dominating the menâs circuit. Nonetheless, they also met each other three times last year on tour, with Alcaraz winning all their matches. He revealed during an interview that he practices to get better and create problems for his arch-rival.
Obviously I practise just to get better, because I have a lot of things to improve, but a lot of times Iâm thinking, âHow can I be better to beat Jannik and give him problems?â Thatâs the beauty of our rivalry: to think about ourselves and think about the other, just to be better.
Carlos Alcaraz said via Fantasticman
Alcaraz and Sinner have not faced each other this year. This is because Sinner served a three-month suspension for twice testing positive for clostebol in March last year. He has returned to tour after serving the full tenure of his ban and will compete at the Italian Open.
Carlos Alcaraz receives a tough Italian Open draw
Carlos Alcarazâs participation at the Italian Open is still yet to be confirmed. The World Bo.3 sustained an injury during his match against Holger Rune at the Barcelona Open final. That forced him to withdraw from the Madrid Open, but heâs yet to do the same ahead of the Italian Open, which begins on May 7.
The Rome Masters have released the draw for the tournament and Alcaraz will face Jiri Lehecka or Yoshihito Nishioka in the second after earning a first-round bye. Heâs projected to face Alex Michelsen in round three, before a likely meeting against Grigor Dimitrov in the fourth round of the ATP 1000 event.
If he does prevail over all the aforementioned opponents, a projected quarter-final clash against Jack Draper awaits him, and a likely semi-final tie against Alexander Zverev.
