Mats Wilander, comparing Carlos Alcaraz to tennis great Roger Federer, has declared that Alcaraz may emerge as the “second most important player” in tennis history.
The former world No. 1 considers Federer to be the best player of all time and feels that Alcaraz should be held to a higher standard than only matching Federer’s record of victory.
After Jannik Sinner and Novak Djokovic, Alcaraz is currently rated third in the world. In March, he won his first victory in eight months at the Indian Wells Masters.
Following his triumphant defense of the title in the Masters 1000 tournament in California, the 20-year-old was defeated by eventual runner-up Grigor Dimitrov last week in the Miami Open quarterfinals.
The two-time Grand Slam champion’s next matchup is at the Monte Carlo Masters, where he’ll face a qualifier, Felix Auger-Aliassime.
In an interview with Eurosport, Wilander claimed that although Alcaraz won’t surpass Djokovic in terms of ranking supremacy, he will nonetheless grow in significance within the tennis community.
“No, I don’t think he can hold the top spot in the world for 400 weeks. Furthermore, seeing Carlos Alcaraz play tennis makes me think of the legendary Roger Federer,” the Swede remarked.
“Once more, I consistently refer to Federer as the best player of all time, and that opinion is unrelated to the numbers or the outcomes. It has to do with people’s expectations and his intentions for the sport.
“Carlos Alcaraz is experiencing the same issue. More than just a player winning games is what fans are hoping for. Carlos Alcaraz’s detractors adore it. Like Grigor Dimitrov, they enjoy playing against him because it’s entertaining.
He approaches the net and makes drop shots. I believe Roger Federer to be the most significant tennis player of all time because he was able to maintain his dominance for an extended period of time without showing any mental intimidation towards his opponents.
“Considering what Carlos Alcaraz brings to the court, I believe he has the potential to rank as the second-most significant tennis player in history.
However, this does not imply that Jannik Sinner or even Novak Djokovic will have the same level of ranking consistency. It’s not how he plays the game of tennis.
The seven-time Grand Slam champion also made a comparison between Nick Kyrgios’ and Alcaraz’s demands for crowd entertainment.
People are expecting more from Carlos Alcaraz than just winning tennis matches, which is something that maybe Nick Kyrgios had to deal with at times. They anticipate that he will make incredible defensive stops, make clutch shots, and eventually turn the game around, according to Wilander.
“I believe that for him, having to constantly feel like he has to win and also act in an entertainment role will be quite taxing over the course of a lifetime. I believe that dropping out of the top two is probably a little relieving.
