Carlos Alcaraz described as the ‘Mike Tyson of tennis’ due to ‘brutal power and speed’

Shahida Jacobs 24 Mar 2023 7:30 AM

Carlos Alcaraz eager

Carlos Alcaraz has been likened to boxing great Mike Tyson with Daniil Medvedev’s coach Gilles Cervera saying he “leaves rivals without options”.

Reigning US Open champion Alcaraz produced an emphatic performance on Sunday to defeat Medvedev 6-3, 6-2 in the final of the Indian Wells Open with the result helping him to return to No 1 in the ATP Rankings.

What made the display even more impressive was the fact that Medvedev headed into the clash on the back of a 19-match winning run that saw him lift three consecutive hard-court titles.

But he was never at the races against Alcaraz as the Spaniard blew him away and Cervera was impressed by the teenager’s performance as he compared the 19-year-old with former undisputed world heavyweight champion Tyson, who was known for his speed and power in the ring.

“He is the Tyson of tennis because of how he is capable of hitting those forehands with the racket,” he told L’Equipe. “There were blows that were displacing Daniil 10 metres with brutal power and speed.”

Cervera added: “He is an incredible player. He leaves rivals without options. We thought he would make mistakes and he gave the feeling that he could not fail. We will have to start looking for his weaknesses for the future.”

Medvedev himself felt he was ready for the fight against Alcaraz, but the reigning US Open champion made his life very difficult.

“He’s playing good. You know, I feel like he was serving well. Serve and volley was good. Like even I knew that it’s never easy to finish a match, especially a final. I was thinking about my match with Novak [Djokovic] in US Open, and, you know, try to do the same, put pressure on him,” he said.

“For example, deuce, I made finally like a very good return on his serve and volley, sliding forehand volley, dropshot. It’s not easy to play him. I would definitely love to play him on other surface, like maybe a little bit faster hard courts to see if I could do better.

“I don’t know if it’s his game that didn’t let me play my best level or just, for whatever reason, I didn’t play my best level. Mentally I was ready for the match. I don’t feel like I kind of took it too easy before the match. I was ready for a fight. I knew that I have a tough opponent on the other side.

“He played well. Good dropshots in good moments, some good winners to break me. So not much more to add.”