"We're talking about 22 Grand Slams, he has only 1" - Coach Juan Carlos Ferrero on whether Carlos Alcaraz is the future of tennis after the Big 3

Carlos Alcaraz beat Casper Ruud 6-4, 2-6, 7-6(1), 6-3 on Sunday to win his maiden Grand Slam. In the process, Alcaraz became the youngest ever World No. 1 and the youngest to win a Major since Rafael Nadal in 2005.

Number one doesn’t care about 19.

Carlos Alcaraz shows that when you play with true belief, grit and a smile, nothing is out of reach.

Congratulations @carlosalcaraz on your first major and becoming the youngest 🎾 Men’s World Number 1, ever. #JustDoIt 💥 https://t.co/EI1mi2lvOB

Alcaraz has credited much of his success to his coach, Juan Carlos Ferrero. In the post-match press conference, Ferrero was asked whether he believed Carlos Alcaraz to be the future of tennis, now that the Big 3 are nearing the end of their careers.

Ferrero replied by saying that while his protege had the potential to be great, achieving what each of the Big 3 has achieved would be "very difficult." He added, however, that Carlos Alcaraz would certainly give it a shot.

"I have the goal to put him on the high level of tennis. Of course, I think it's going to be very, very difficult to achieve what they have done on tennis. We're talking about 22 Grand Slams. He has only one. Is a long way still to go. But who knows? I think he has all the tennis and potential to be one of the best. All we have to do is try it."

"He was born to play this kind of tournament, born to play these kind of matches" - Juan Carlos Ferrero on what makes Carlos Alcaraz special

Juan Carlos Ferrero was asked in the post-match press conference what he thought made Carlos Alcaraz special. A former World No. 1 and 2003 French Open champion, Ferrero said Alcaraz was born to play in big tournaments and that he saw something special in the teenager right from the start.

"I don't know. It's very tough to say all these things in words," he said. "But Carlos, I think he born to play this kind of tournament, born to play these kind of matches. Since the moment that I started with him, I saw some things that were different than the other guys at his age."

Felicidades @carlosalcaraz por tu primer Grand Slam y por el número 1 que es el colofón a tu primera gran temporada que estoy seguro serán muchas más! 👏🏻
Great effort @CasperRuud98 !very proud of you! Tough luck today but amazing tournament and season! Keep going!

Ferrero added that it was Carlos Alacarz's mental strength and ability to keep going even in difficult moments that made him stand out.

"I am still seeing it on the court. In important moments, he always try to go. This was one of the more difficult things in tennis, even on his first Grand Slam final," he said.

"He's a great competitor. He's there. He's trying all the time. We could see it the last matches, even against Cilic, Sinner, or Tiafoe, that he never gave up. He always wanted to push and try to stay on the match," he added.