John McEnroe described Carlos Alcaraz as “one of the most refreshing athletes” he has seen in the last 10-15 years, but also warned the Spaniard that he now has a target on his back Alcaraz, 19, introduced himself to the world of tennis in impressive form, winning a Grand Slam and becoming the youngest number 1 in tennis history.
“Now, a victory over Alcaraz is much more important than it was a year ago, for anyone, so the key is to try to embrace the idea, I think to be able to enjoy it, but at the same time find a way to understand what is going It’s going to be hard to stay there, because it’s one thing to get there, but I think it’s much more difficult to keep it there,” McEnroe told Eurosport’s Arnold Montgault.
Twelve months ago, Alcaraz was considered one of the most talented and promising players on the Tour. Now, Alcaraz is considered a tennis superstar and his rivals will definitely not think of him as just a talented up-and-coming teenager.
“It’s going to be very interesting to see how he handles it. It worries me a bit because it’s a lot to put it on a guy’s shoulders at 19. I was number 1 briefly at 21 and then I lost the ranking again, another one happened. a year, a year and a half before I definitely got it back for a while.
So it’ll be interesting to see what happens with him, whether he’s able to hold his own or there’s talk of a ‘sophomore slump’ a bit, and it’s hard to imagine something like that not happening to some degree,” McEnroe added.
Alcaraz will play in Buenos Aires
While sharing his thoughts on the Monday Match Analysis show, Flink opined that Carlos Alcaraz will have a lot of pressure on him. “It’s always fun when you’re on the way up. That was a sharp climb for him and then suddenly he finds himself in a position to finish the year at No.
1, and he manages to do it. It was more than he could have dreamed off at the start. I am sure he would have hoped for maybe a top 5 in the world which would have been the ceiling but gets to No. 1. Now, anything less than that this year, or anything less than winning another Major it all can start playing with your mind,” Flink stressed.
“I think he is a very strong-minded character, very disciplined, determined and very mature but this year is going to be a tricky year, psychologically. Going back to Miami and Madrid and the places where he succeeded and try to defend titles and then trying to see if he can do a little better than the quarters of the French Open, see if he can have a better Wimbledon and finally going back and trying to defend the US Open,” the American sports journalist explained.
