Carlos Alcaraz is heading into Wimbledon as the firm favourite to make it three wins in succession at the All England Club, but he might be keen to avoid Belgian veteran David Goffin in the opening rounds.

Goffin is one of the few players in the game who has a winning record against five-time Grand Slam champion Alcaraz, as he has sealed victory in two of his three matches against the young Spaniard.

The most recent of those triumphs was the most surprising of them all, as he beat Alacarz at the Miami Open in March, with Goffin giving Tennis365 an insight into his three wins against the defending Wimbledon champion as he competed at The Boodles exhibition event at Stoke Park.

He started by reflecting on his opening match against Alcaraz four years ago, when he admitted he didn’t know if he had been beaten by a young kid who had a lucky day or a superstar in the making.

“I remember the first match against him and it came during the pandemic in Melbourne the week before the Australian Open in 2021,” said Goffin. “I didn’t know him at the time, but I knew he was good and he had amazing potential.

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“We had no crowd that day, but all the Spanish players came out to see him and I was like ‘what is happening here, everyone wants to see him’.

“He went on to kill me in straight sets and I remember thinking he had just had the best day of his life, or he will be a very special player in the future. I guess we now know what happened next for him.”

After that chastening experience against a teenage Alcaraz in Melbourne, Goffin may have feared the next generation in the men’s game had too much firepower for him to contend with, yet his last two matches against the Spanish star ended in victory.

Goffin beat Alcaraz in straight sets in the Astana Open in 2022 before recording one of the shock wins of this year when he beat the then-four-time Grand Slam champion in a thrilling contest at the Miami Open and admits he may have “got lucky” in the timing of those matches.

“The other two times I played against him may have been at the right moment for me,” continued Goffin.

“In my second match against Alcaraz, he had just won his first Grand Slam title at the US Open and he was maybe a little bit tired towards the end.

“Then I beat him in Miami this year and I played an unbelievable match. It was his first match of the tournament and he was struggling a little with his confidence. That doesn’t appear to be the case any more!

“That’s why I say it was the right moment to beat him, but I also had to play great tennis to beat him.”

Goffin went on to suggest that Alcaraz is the complete player at the age of 22, as he heaped praise on the player who heads into Wimbledon as defending champion and favourite to retain his crown.

“He has everything,” added Goffin. “He has speed, great hands when he comes to the next and, of course, his groundstrokes are amazing. Especially his forehand. He is still young and has a great career in front of him.”

Alcaraz will be keen to get another crack at Goffin soon to ensure the Belgian does not head into tennis retirement with a record that suggests he had the magic formula to beat him.

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