Carlos Alcaraz backed to win ‘between 10 and 15’ Grand Slams by former No 1
Tennis great Mats Wilander believes it is “realistic” that Wimbledon champion Carlos Alcaraz will win between 10 and 15 Grand Slam titles in his career.
The seven-time major champion stressed, though, that he feels the 20-year-old star is “too important for our sport to be counting numbers already.”
Alcaraz defeated 23-time Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic 1-6, 7-6 (6), 6-1, 3-6, 6-4 in a thrilling title match at Wimbledon on Sunday. This was the Spaniard’s second major triumph, following his victory at the 2022 US Open.
The world No 1 became just the third player besides the trio of Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer and Andy Murray to beat Djokovic in a Grand Slam final. The other two were Stan Wawrinka at the 2015 French Open and Daniil Medvedev at the 2021 US Open.
Alcaraz, who only turned 20 in May, has already won 12 ATP titles during an incredible start to his career.
In an interview with Eurosport, Wilander lauded Alcaraz’s ability to learn quickly as one of his great qualities.
“Well, I think we’ve seen enough from Carlos Alcaraz during these [Wimbledon] Championships that tells us that he – first of all he is a very quick learner. He adjusted to the most difficult surface we have in our sport,” said the Swede.
“He adjusted very quickly, took him three weeks basically and with each match here – he got better and better. He changed his style a little bit along the way, started hitting a few more slice backhands. Wasn’t quite as aggressive, didn’t hit as many unforced errors in the later few rounds.
“So with all that, and plus the physicality of this final now, shows us that what happened in Paris in the semis was a coincidence. It was bad luck. It must be some stress and anxiety, but also excitement to play Novak. So I think he learned so much, he’s a quick learner.”
The former world No 1 also predicted that the Spanish phenomenon will reach double figures in major titles if he stays healthy.
“There’s no telling. You never know physically, if he’s gonna get injured. But if he’s healthy, he plays this kind of tennis – he’s only gonna get better,” continued Wilander.
“And I put him down to [win] somewhere between 10 and 15 [Grand Slam titles], I think is realistic. But even if he ends up on five or six, he’s too important for our sport to be counting numbers already.”
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