Spain has always been an inexhaustible source of top level tennis players. However, the two names that currently represent the past, present and future of the Iberian nation and are undoubtedly Rafael Nadal and Carlos Alcaraz.
The first represents one of the best tennis players in the history of this sport, record holder in slam titles and recognized by all as the King of clay. The second, enfant prodige, despite being only 19 years old, already holds the record of youngest number one in history, obtained thanks to his first slam success in Flushing Meadouws and 1000 tournaments in Miami and Madrid.
Spain currently has eight players in the Top-65 of the ATP rankings. Among them is the world number 62 Pedro Martinez, who during a press conference at the Tata Open Maharashtra, recognized in the figures of Nadal and Alcaraz “A great source of inspiration”
“Over the years we have Bruguera, Corretja, Juan Carlos Ferrero, Albert Costa, before them Manuel Orantes, Manolo Santana. And again, David Ferrer, Tommy Robredo. Watching all these beautiful guys play and many others like Feliciano Lopez, Fernando Verdasco, Guillermo-Garcia Lopez, Pablo Andujar, make you feel that you can achieve these things too, which are not impossible as many players have achieved these things.”
said the player from Alzira. “I think we have a very good tennis school in Spain and I hope people are still working on it, because it’s important to keep showing kids how to learn tennis. The numbers tell the story by themselves,” he concluded with a hint of pride the 25 year old.
The 97-year-old tennis player is part of a younger generation of Spaniards including Alcaraz himself, Jaume Munar and Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, charged with carrying on the legacy of highly experienced players such as Nadal, Roberto Bautista Agut and Pablo Carreno Busta.
Alcaraz was injured
Jaume Munar believes Carlos Alcaraz has solved a “little problem” for Spanish tennis. “I think we had a little problem as a country with the way that Rafa was getting older and we didn’t have the second one behind him after (David) Ferrer,” Jaume Munar stated to Sportskeeda.
“But Alcaraz covered that and he’s working, I mean, (he’s) among the best. With the players, I think we’re in a good position,” the 25-year-old further said. “The federation is doing a great job, we’re having a lot of tournaments now, they’re investing a lot on that, and I think that is important to get more players to the top.”
