Carlos Alcaraz claimed his seventh Grand Slam title as he became the youngest player of all-time to win all four Grand Slams with his victory against Novak Djokovic at the Australian Open and now former British No 1 Greg Rusedski has predicted how many major title the Spanish great will win.
Alcaraz’s four set win against Djokovic ended the Serbian’s hopes of winning a 25th Grand Slam title and Rusedski suggests the world No 1 will not be ‘favourite for every Grand Slam’ after his victory in Melbourne.
Speaking on the latest episode of his Off Court Cuts show, Rusedski predicted Alcaraz is now on course to win in excess of 20 Grand Slam titles, as he eyes up a shot at record holder Djokovic in a career that has already put him among the all-time greats of the game at the tender age of 22.
“If he gets another one or two this year, he’s at eight or nine. you know, he’s going to be the favourite for every Slam he plays,” said Rusedski.
“He’s the No 1 player on the planet. We were all panicked about what’s going to happen with Juan Carlos Ferrero. Well, no more questions needed to be asked.
More Tennis News
Youngest men to complete Career Grand Slam in Open Era: Alcaraz beats Federer, Djokovic, Nadal
Carlos Alcaraz and Novak Djokovic’s Australian Open prize money & ranking points revealed
“He’s won his first Australian Open seventh major, something he’s never done before. He’d never been in an Australian Open final before. He’d never won one.
“So he’s going from strength to strength. It’s been a fantastic Australian Open and start to the year for him. So I don’t see why there’s any reason, if he stays healthy, why he cannot get to 20. To get beyond 20 plus, that’s a different beast.
“Health is your wealth. You have to be healthy and you have to be dominant over usually a 10 year period to achieve those things.”
Rusedski also suggested the questions marks over his split with coach Juan Carlos Ferrero have been answered in the grand manner with his sparkling win in Melbourne under lead coach Sami Lopez.
“When you have sometimes a really big name coach, they take the spotlight away from you, but they also are very strong minded and he’s getting the balance right,” added Rusedski
“And it was very interesting in the match [against Djokovic] as well, because when he played those drop shots and those angles and then play the magical point, it was almost like he got more energy and more joy. And that’s the balance with coaching.
“You want to keep the creativity in there, but you also want to keep the solidness at times. And I think Sammy Lopez, let’s give him credit. He is the coach now. He’s done a fantastic job as being the only coach on the team at the moment and well done to Carlos.”
Rusedski went on to identify the moment Alcaraz broke Djokovic in the Australian Open final, as he suggested the swing in momentum after the Serbian won the first set was crucial.
“You felt that Carlos got that second set and Djokovic started looking a little bit tired, which is normal at 38 years of age,” he added.
“Tried to stage a comeback in that fourth set, but Carlos just didn’t relent to finish it off 7-5 in the fourth set. And it’s these small margins. If you’re a Djokovic fan, there’s hope. As you say, he’s improved his game. His serve needed to be slightly better today, even though he served very well.”
READ NEXT: The youngest Australian Open men’s champions: Where does Alcaraz rank as he joins Djokovic & Sinner?
The post Former British No 1 predicts Carlos Alcaraz’s final Grand Slam total after Australian Open glory appeared first on Tennis365.
Leave a Reply