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Denis Shapovalov, Felix Auger-Aliassime and Alejandro Davidovich Fokina have been simply a few of the gamers noticed on Court docket 1 on the 2019 Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell to look at Carlos Alcaraz play his first qualifying match at an ATP Tour occasion. On the time, David Ferrer already knew the 15-year-old boy, even earlier than he had began working below his buddy Juan Carlos Ferrero.
The assembly between Ferrer and Alcaraz got here on the Javea Tennis Membership, when the Murcia native was 14. Albert Molina, the younger expertise’s agent and buddy of the previous World No. 3 organized the encounter.
—”Hey, Ferru, tomorrow a child’s coming from Murcia.”
—”Ah, nice.”
—”He’s 14.”
—”14?”
—”Yup, let me know what you suppose.”
Not solely did they take pleasure in some rallies on the exhausting courtroom of the Alicante membership, additionally they performed a tie-break. “If he didn’t beat me, he was very shut,” remembered Ferrer in a dialog for the ATP Tour Insider newsletter. “It was stunning to see his ball pace, however above all that I couldn’t harm him with my flat ball. He used his fingers very nicely and I may see that he was very quick. For that age he had excellent footwork and it was very troublesome to hit a winner towards him.”
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This was Alcaraz’s introduction to a participant who had spent virtually the whole lot of the earlier decade within the Prime 10. On prime of his innate capability with a racquet in his hand, Ferrer additionally sensed a particular expertise in a boy who was shy in addition to daring. He was a fearless participant, but in addition very respectful.
“I’m not saying it to look intelligent, however proper then I noticed one thing particular in him, one thing completely different to every other participant,” stated the 27-time tour-level winner. “I’ve skilled with a number of younger boys. However when a 14-year-old copes together with your tempo like that and you may see his want to beat you in a tie-break – whereas at all times being respectful – it’s as a result of he has one thing particular.”
In a method, Rafael Nadal’s title inevitably comes up within the dialog, though Ferrer is reluctant to attract parallels. “I see related issues when it comes to the untimely capability to study and the ambition,” he stated of two gamers who managed to win ATP Masters 1000s at 18.
“That maturity in somebody so younger isn’t regular,” he continued. “Neither is the way in which he handles strain, taking part in in huge stadiums, taking part in a Masters 1000 and never shying away from it. Usually there can be some stage fright, however neither he nor Rafa has had that. They’re completely different.”
After heaping reward on the latest Miami champion, Ferrer was eager to make a clarification. “However I don’t like evaluating them, as a result of what Rafa has achieved is big. He’s a legend of tennis, the perfect participant in historical past,” Ferrer stated. “Evaluating them can be an enormous burden for Carlos. He shall be a participant who has an opportunity to be the No. 1 on the earth. He can have a number of possibilities to win Grand Slams, however he has his complete profession forward of him.”
What we do know is that there’s new hope on the horizon for Spanish tennis. After the retirement of gamers like Ferrer, there was a necessity for gamers to interrupt by and aspire for the ATP Tour elite and the largest titles.
“He’s not changing me, as a result of Carlos Alcaraz shall be higher than David Ferrer,” the present director of the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell was fast to level out. This yr Ferrer welcomed his younger countryman to his event because the fifth seed and World No. 11. Alcaraz gained the title.
“No one can overshadow Rafa due to all the pieces he has been and continues to be, as a result of he’s the No. 1 within the Race [ATP Race to Turin]. The nice factor is that we are able to take pleasure in each of them. It’s not that one is arriving when the opposite is leaving, one is the No. 1 and the opposite is the No. 2 within the Race.”
Spanish tennis has opened the door to a different nice champion of the long run, who already has an astonishing current.
from Tennis – ATP World Tour https://ift.tt/FB5Qakv