Carlos Alcaraz has caught the tennis world’s attention with his rapid rise into the Top 10 of the ATP Rankings. The Spanish star has not just earned the respect of his colleagues on the ATP Tour, but also the Hologic WTA Tour.
Alcaraz’s countrywoman, WTA World No. 2 Paula Badosa, was quick to praise the 18-year-old ahead of the Mutua Madrid Open, where they both will be competing.
“Of course Carlos is insane. Sometimes in press, especially in Spanish press, I’m asked whether I have some advice for Carlos. And maybe he has to tell me something and advise!” Badosa said. “Because when I was 18 years old I was doing completely different things than him. So I think he’s doing everything very good.”
Alcaraz’s results speak for themselves — the teen won his first ATP Masters 1000 and first two ATP 500 trophies earlier this year. But Badosa was equally complimentary of his character. The duo recently joined Pablo Carreno Busta and Ons Jabeur on a visit to the Miami Rescue Mission as part of Miami Open Unites.
“He’s a humble guy. He’s very nice and deserves everything he’s doing,” Badosa said. “He’s gong to be even better and that’s going to be good for world tennis, but even more for Spanish players.”
Another WTA star, Naomi Osaka, has spoken this year about examining the games of Rafael Nadal and Nick Kyrgios to improve her tennis. But she has also been excited by Alcaraz’s rise.
“You know it’s funny, I don’t know if I’m going to be blasted for saying this, but I feel like he’s genuinely made everyone excited about the ATP and I haven’t seen that in a very long time,” Osaka said. “I’m not even really thinking about his age, like every time someone brings up his age, I’m like, ‘Oh wow, I forget, that’s so cool’.
“I think just his game style, just how pumped he is, I feel like I’m watching [him] learn with every tournament. I don’t know what his ranking was last year here, but I’ve watched almost every tournament that he’s played, the US Open when he played [Stefanos] Tsitsipas and just to see the growth I think is really exciting for everyone.”
Source Tennis – ATP World Tour
