© Getty Images Entertainment – Kristy Sparow
Boris Becker fully agrees with Carlos Alcaraz that Rafael Nadal is “ready for great things” in his comeback year. During his press conference at the Riyadh Season Tennis Cup, Alcaraz was asked about his expectations for Nadal’s comeback. Answering the question, world No. 2 Alcaraz offered a highly optimistic take on how Nadal’s comeback would go.
“I think he’s ready… I saw some videos of him practicing, he’s 100 percent. I hear from other players that they practiced with Rafa in these past weeks and they said that he’s going to return to his good level. His top level. I think he’s ready for great things this year as well,” Alcaraz said in Riyadh.
Becker agrees with Alcaraz
Reacting to Alcaraz’s comments on X, Becker just wrote: “Word.” In slang, “word” is an informal expression used to confirm that you agree with something that someone has said.
— Boris Becker (@TheBorisBecker) December 27, 2023
In Riyadh, world No. 1 Novak Djokovic was also asked to share his thoughts about Nadal’s post-surgery return. Nadal may have been lowering expactations around him ahead of his comeback but Djokovic fully expects the 22-time Grand Slam champion to be gunning for titles in his return.
“I always expect him (Nadal) to play at his best, to be honest. Many times they’ve signed him out, they’ve done that with me as well. But we’ve proved them wrong. He’s not a kind of a player that will come back to the tour just to play — let’s say — on a medium level, play a few matches. He wants to win titles, he wants to be the best, that’s why he is who he is: a legend of our sport. I’m sure that his training and preparation is done with an intention to win a Grand Slam,” Djokovic said.
Meanwhile, Nadal is officially launching his comeback at the Brisbane International, which starts on December 31st.
