Swedish former World No. 1 Mats Wilander has given his verdict on a young superstar from the current generation and he thinks that this youngster could become the “second most important player” in tennis history after Roger Federer.
Mats Wilander is a former tennis player with an incredible arsenal of achievements to boast. He is among one of the youngest players ever to win a French Open title(at the age of 17). Having done a lot for the world of tennis, he still follows it years after his retirement.
Wilander is a Roger fanatic and never misses a chance to express gratitude towards Federer for his contribution to the game. He believes that the Maestro is the greatest tennis player to have ever set foot on the court and nobody even comes close to him.
However, recently when asked about the upcoming players, Mats has taken an unreasonable liking towards 20-year-old Carlos Alcaraz. He believes in the potential of Alcaraz and thinks that he could become the “second most important player” to ever play the sport.
Talking about the young Spaniard, Mats Wilander says:
“No, I don’t believe that he [Alcaraz] can do that (be world No 1 for 400 weeks). And when I see Carlos Alcaraz play tennis, it reminds me so much of the great Roger Federer. Again, I normally call him (Federer) the greatest player of all time, and that has nothing to do with the statistics or the results. It has to do with what he meant for the sport, the expectations that people had.”
“Carlos Alcaraz is going through the same thing. People are expecting more than a player winning matches. The opponents of Carlos Alcaraz, they love it. They love playing against him, just like Grigor Dimitrov, because it’s fun. He hits drop shots, he comes to the net. The fact that Roger Federer was able to stay on top for so long without having that mental intimidation towards his opponents, to me, is one of the reasons why I think he’s the most important tennis player to ever play our sport.”
“I think Carlos Alcaraz could become the second most important tennis player to ever play our sport because of what he brings to the court. But that doesn’t mean that the consistency in the rankings is going to be in the same way as a Novak Djokovic or even like a Jannik Sinner. It’s not the way he plays tennis.”
Carlos Alcaraz moves out of the Top 2 for the first time after Wimbledon 2022
Despite winning the Indian Wells tournament and finding back his flow, Carlos Alcaraz had to face defeat in the recently concluded Miami Open in the quarter-finals.
This loss saw him out of the Top 2 in the World rankings as his rival Jannik Sinner won the tournament and snatched the #2 ranking from him. After peaking at the Wimbledon 2022, Carlos Alcaraz has found it difficult to sustain his form in the tournaments.
And to add to it, now Carlos has announced his withdrawal from the Monte Carlo Masters due to an arm injury.
