"At Roland Garros, he definitely will be one of the main favourites" - Novak Djokovic on Carlos Alcaraz
Novak Djokovic recently heaped huge praise on 2022 Madrid Open champion Carlos Alcaraz, stating that he'll be a favorite at Roland Garros. The Spaniard beat the Serb in the semi-finals of the Madrid Open 6-7 (5), 7-5, 7-6 (5). He then went on to beta Alexander Zverev in the final to become the youngest champions in Madrid history.
Novak Djokovic, on the other hand, is yet to win a tournament this year. However, he did seem to be on the right track at the recently-concluded Madrid Open, where he reached the semifinals.
After bagging the first set against Alcaraz in the last four, the Serb fell short in the final two. The Spaniard used an array of spectacular drop shots in combination with some seething aggression to halt Djokovic's progress to the final.
The Alcaraz drop shot is truly next level 🔥
NINE drop shot winners so far against Djokovic 🤯
@alcarazcarlos03 | @MutuaMadridOpen
During a press conference ahead of the the Italian Open, the 34-year-old was all praise for Alcaraz, saying:
"At Roland Garros, he is definitely one of the main favorites, no doubt, even though he has never reached the second week of a Grand Slam. With everything recently that he has achieved, he deserves to be one of the favorites."
Novak Djokovic delves deep into what makes Carlos Alcaraz special
During the press conference, Djokovic refused to enumerate possible similarities between the Spanish teenager and Rafael Nadal, Andy Murray, Roger Federer or himself. Instead he said Alacaraz should be allowed to develop his own authentic personality. He said:
"Well, I generally don't like comparisons. I think everyone is authentic, everyone is special."
The Serb did, however, acknowledge wholeheartedly that Alcaraz was special. He went on to delve into some of the qualities that made the young Spaniard stand out.
"He definitely is special. I mean, already he's breaking a lot of records as a teenager, you know, winning two Masters events this year, a couple of 500s. So far he's the best player in the world, no question, this year with the results that he's been doing."
ATP 500 Rio
Masters 1000 Miami
ATP 500 Barcelona
Masters 1000 Madrid
4th title of this 2022 for Carlos #Alcaraz, simply unbelievable 👏👏 https://t.co/T2ugk5SWNu
Djokovic also praised the manner in which the youngster dealt with the pressure in the Madrid semifinal against him and stressed that Alcaraz deserved to win the tournament.
"The way he was dealing with the pressure, I mean, in our match a few days ago, how calm he was all the way till the entity, was impressive. He deserved to win the trophy."
"Everything about his game is really impressive. He's a really complete player, can play equally well offensively and defensively. He's the talk of the sport."
The 19-year-old champion's humility also did not go unnoticed by Djokovic, who had practiced with Alcaraz before the start of the Madrid Open tournament. He said:
"I think it's great, in general, for tennis to have somebody that young who is bold enough to challenge the best players in the world and win big trophies, but at the same time be humble and nice off the court, which he is. Yeah, definitely wish him all the best."
The Serb added:
"I'm sure there's going to be a lot of interesting encounters with him on different surfaces, with other players, with myself hopefully. He brings a lot of energy on the court, which is nice to see. That's why people like him, they follow him closely."
The Serb also supported Alcaraz's decision to take a break by withdrawing from the Italian Open, saying:
"Of course, him not playing here, he wanted to take some time probably to recover after intense couple of months, which I think was a good decision on his part."
Also Check Out :-Italian Open 2022 Results