Djokovic and Nadal to influence Carlos Alcaraz and fans ‘won’t be happy’
Carlos Alcaraz has been told that some tennis fans “won’t be happy” if he wins around 14 Grand Slam titles because of Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer. All three men have lifted at least 20 Major trophies, and retired Spanish tennis star Feliciano Lopez believes it would be unfair to compete Alcaraz’s achievements with theirs. The 41-year-old instead tipped his countryman to win 12 to 15.
Alcaraz already has a career many would be envious of at the age of just 20. The Spaniard is a two-time Grand Slam champion and became the ATP’s youngest-ever world No 1 when he first ascended to the top 11 months ago.
He now has a new task ahead – defending a Grand Slam title for the first time at the upcoming US Open. If the world No 1 can successfully retain his crown, he will have three Grand Slam titles all before he is even of legal drinking age in the States.
Given all he has achieved so far – holding 10 other titles alongside his two Majors – Lopez believes that Alcaraz will end his career with 12 to 15 Grand Slams, which could beat Pete Sampras’ old record of 14. “It’s very difficult for me to say one number because you’d be depending on so many things,” the former world No 12 said.
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“I did an interview for Sky a while ago, and I think I said 15. It’s something that it’s a fair number to say, but it’s very difficult for me to say a number.” However, Lopez feared that Alcaraz could constantly find himself under pressure to win at least 20 – the number of Slams that Federer has.
He continued: “But especially now when we have three players with 20 or more, but this is something out of this world, you know, in my opinion, so any comparison between the Big Three and in this case Carlos or any other player coming out, it’s not going to be fair I think because for me these numbers are unreal and out of this world.”
As well as Federer’s 20 Majors, Nadal holds 22 while Djokovic won his 23rd earlier this year in Paris. And Lopez rubbished the idea that it would be easy for any other great champion to match and surpass what the Big Three achieved.
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US Open tennis makes its long-awaited return to Sky Sports and it’s certainly not something to be missed.
Sky Sports subscribers on Sky Glass, Sky Stream, Sky Q, and the Sky Sports app will be able to watch all courts for the first time on Sky Sports.
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You can also get six months Sky Sports completely free.
“So there’s many people they’re thinking that they’re not going to be happy if Carlos is winning 12 or 13 or 14 Grand Slams. This is crazy, you know? But there’s many people thinking this way because there’s always this idea that any you know any great player can get to these numbers and for me this is something very, very difficult,” he explained.
“So I think it’s fair to say I’ll be very happy if he wins 14 Grand Slams. It will be amazing. A few years before the Big Three, Sampras won 14. And nobody thought that three players are going to be able to win more than 14 Grand Slams.”
The US Open returns exclusively to Sky Sports and NOW with feeds to all courts from 28th August.
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