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Spain’s new tennis ace

Yoghurt, laser focus and lessons from Dad: John Westerby charts the rise of a potential tennis superstar.

HEWAS13atthetime and had just won an under-14 tournament held at the academy established by Rafael Nadal in his home town of Manacor in Mallorca. After the final, Carlos Alcaraz was asked about his career goals and he answered with the mix of confidence and humility that is now becoming familiar across the tennis world.

‘‘I want to be top 10 in the world, but you need to work for it,’’ he said. ‘‘My idol is Rafa

Nadal. I want to be like Rafa because he practises very hard and gives his all in matches.’’

Remarkably, it would be less than five years before Alcaraz would find himself standing on the other side of a net from his hero: he faced him in the first round of the Madrid Open in May last year. It was a meeting on clay between the future face of Spanish tennis, embarking on his first full year on the ATP Tour, and the greatest player in the country’s history, 16 years older, who had then won a record 20 grand slam titles.

As it happened, it was also Alcaraz’s 18th birthday and the home crowd welcomed him with a rendition of ‘Happy Birthday’. It was the stuff of a young sportsman’s dreams.

But he won only three games and, within an 78 minutes, it was over. Alcaraz swallowed hard.

‘‘It’s amazing to spend my birthday playing against Rafa,’’ he said. ‘‘I think this match made me grow up as a player.’’

Nadal, meanwhile, knew what he had seen. ‘‘He has enormous potential,’’ Nadal said. ‘‘All he needs is some time.’’

Consoled by Nadal’s words, Alcaraz went away determined to prove that he could compete at the top. Working on his tennis had never been a hardship, because he had always loved the game so much, ever since the age of four, when he began playing at the tennis club run by his father, also called Carlos, in Murcia.

He enjoyed playing other games, particularly golf, chess and football. Like Nadal, he is a staunch follower of Real Madrid.

But tennis was the sport that Alcaraz grew up around, showing a natural flair and winning regional tournaments by the age of 10. Before he became principal coach at the Club de Campo,

Carlos Alcaraz Sr had been a professional himself, from 1991 to 2005. He had joined the top 40 players in Spain, but never made sufficient money and opted to find a more stable source of income.

Once his son had begun to demonstrate such evident promise, a raw athleticism combined with exceptional handeye coordination, Carlos Sr knew from his own experiences a small amount of financial backing could go a long way. He sought out a sponsor and struck lucky when his son played against the son of Alfonso Lopez Rueda, who ran a local company in Murcia, Postres Reina, that produced yoghurt.

‘‘We immediately saw that the boy had a future and we decided to support him,’’ Lopez Rueda said. From that point, travelling to some of the far-flung junior tournaments became a more manageable prospect.

One other lesson that Alcaraz Sr heeded came from watching the experiences of Sergi Bruguera, one of his contemporaries. Bruguera had won the French Open twice and reached No 3 in the world, but he had been coached by his father and it was a tempestuous relationship. Although he worked with his son at an early age, Alcaraz Sr decided he would leave the coaching to others as he grew older. ‘‘[Sergi] and his father Lluis were constantly clashing,’’ he said. ‘‘I wanted to get along with my son. So I have never been his coach.’’

As a result, from the age of 14, Alcaraz Jr moved to train at the academy run by Juan Carlos Ferrero, a drive of 90min north from Murcia, near Alicante. Ferrero had won the French Open title in 2003 and had been world No 1. Along with running the academy, he was working as a coach with Alexander Zverev, but once that arrangement ended in 2019, he became fulltime coach to Alcaraz, who was 16 by now and showing his potential on the ITF Tour, the lowest rung on the professional ladder.

Ferrero knew that Alcaraz was not too far away from being able to compete with the best, but also that greater consistency would be required on the ATP Tour.

‘‘Since he was little, he has been an inconsistent player; he would play very well, then he would play very badly. He has placed a lot of importance on working on the mental side. We’ve always tried to make him grow and invest in his tennis. We’ve never been in a hurry.’’

He made his ATP Tour debut in Rio de Janeiro in February 2020 and then, after the disruptions caused by Covid, he won three titles on the Challenger Tour, in Trieste, Barcelona and Alicante, and suddenly he was threatening to break into the world’s top 100.

Still only 17, he made his grand slam debut at the 2021 Australian Open, beating Botic van de Zandschulp in the first round, before losing to Mikael Ymer.

Then came that meeting with Nadal in Madrid last year, the day he turned 18. It became clear to his team of coaches that day that he was still some way from physical maturity. He made the US Open quarterfinals before injury forced him to withdraw, beating Cameron Norrie, seeded No 26, in straight sets.

‘‘The kid gets to everything,’’ Norrie said. ‘‘What makes him tricky is, a lot of the time, when he’s got the short ball or [at] the point where he can finish it,

he’s just got so many options. He’s got the drop shot... He also has a big forehand. You have to be ready for anything.’’

The engine was now running smoothly. The next time Alcaraz met Nadal was at the Indian Wells hard-court tournament in March. This time, Nadal was taken to three sets, prevailing 6-4 4-6 6-3. Norrie took him to three sets in the Madrid Open second round last weekend, then Alcaraz embarked on his celebrated threeday run. First, he earned an unforgettable first victory over Nadal. The day after, he beat Novak Djokovic, the world No 1, before thumping Zverev, the world No 3, in the final. ‘‘His serve’s improved, he’s got a good game for all surfaces, a very complete game,’’ said Norrie.

SPORT

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2022-05-22T07:00:00.0000000Z

2022-05-22T07:00:00.0000000Z

https://fairfaxmedia.pressreader.com/article/282076280481398

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