Coach Rick Macci called Carlos Alcaraz “a generational talent” as the 19-year-old Spaniard’s forehand reminds the legendary coach of Novak Djokovic and Andre Agassi. Macci, who was famously Serena and Venus Williams‘ childhood coach, thinks Alcaraz is “going to transcend how tennis coaches teach kids the game.” At just 19 years old, Alcaraz has a Grand Slam title, three Masters titles and he has been ranked at No 1.
Alcaraz is already a very complete player and he is proving that a player using drop shots frequently can have great success. “I saw this like three years ago, and I’ve actually done some videos. He’s a generational player, and he’s going to transcend how people even teach the sport.
It’s almost like it’s okay to do the drop shot more now,” Macci told Tennis-Infinity.
Macci sees a bit of Djokovic, Agassi in Alcaraz
Alcaraz has a big and powerful game but technically his forehand and backhand shots still look outstanding.
“He’s been taught really well. What I mean is he obviously has the ATP forehand, his technique is high-level. There’s no little flaw, like I could point out in a few other players, maybe in the Top 20 in the world. So the forehand, technically from a science point of view, great, the backhand is very technically sound also, there’s nothing complicated going on there.
So the two big ticket items, the forehand and backhand he’s already fundamentally sound like Agassi or like Djokovic,” Macci added. For the first time in two decades, men’s tennis has a teenager who is winning Grand Slams.
Because of his early success, Alcaraz has been labeled as “the new Rafael Nadal.” Recently, Alcaraz’s coach Juan Carlos Ferrero admitted the new Nadal label used to be very heavy on the 19-year-old’s back. Fortunately for Alcaraz and his team, they were able to put that aside and achieve success.
