Alcaraz, mix of Djokovic, Nadal and Federer. What did he take from the three champions – Corriere.it

No app or artificial intelligence can ever replace history. If Roy Laver hadn’t sawed off the handle of a second-hand racket so that little Rod could hold it, the epic of left-handed volleys, culminating in the electricity of John McEnroe’s razors, would never have been born. If in Stockholm Bjorn Borg hadn’t borrowed the backhand grip from ice hockey, the generation of great bihands would be a mirage.

Without the holy trinity of tennis as a mystical experience in the last twenty years, Federer-Nadal-Djokovic (65 Grand Slams in total from 2003 to today), who knows where the new Wimbledon champion, Carlos Alcaraz from Murcia, would be, who wore a tuxedo for the first time on the evening of the final to attend the winners’ ball and Yesterday morning, when he woke up, he remembered that he was still a teenager’s mess: on live TV with the Cnn dropped the cup
apologizing very much.

The Immortals are inside Alcaraz, product of a cold fusion unbeknownst to him, which took place while he was watching them – kidnapped – on TV. Djokovic, who passed professional when Carlito was born, admitted that he had the sensation of facing a clone (When he defends his two-handed backhand, sliding, it looks just like me) and did not say that the confusion into which the Serbian fell at the end of the five set was not caused (also) by the feeling of estrangement experienced by looking at the reflection of a rival 16 years younger, a Stockholm syndrome in the mirror. If Rafa Nadal is the carbon paper on which Juan Carlos Ferrero, an intelligent coach, has imprinted his pupil – but on the contrary, right-handed Alcaraz, and version 5.0 -, Ercolino admitted he thought of Federer, defeated by Djoker despite two match points at favor (with the joke available) in the cruel final 2019, while completing the breakdown of the Serbian. At 5-4 of the fifth set, Carlos addressed the tennis gods: Please give me the best serve game of my life…. It worked.

The sublime Frankenstein capable of making the revolution in Church Road, in short, already qualified for the ATP Finals in Turin who are also waiting for Jannik Sinner fifth in the Race (the red baron has returned home: he climbed the Tre Cime di Lavaredo to recharge his batteries), managed to synthesize in himself, personalizing it, the best of the three phenomena. He has the mentality of his compatriot Nadal, the first to compliment via Twitter (You gave us immense joy): Djokovic’s balance at Wimbledon in the matches in which he won the first set was 79-0, before meeting on his way Carlito. One who plays every 15 as if it were a matter of life and death, with an intensity that does not allow itself to pause and the courage to always go and take the point in the decisive junctions. Even certain obsessions recall Rafa: the habit of arranging underwear, bottles of water well aligned on the sidelines.

Federer’s beauty: that of the Swiss was underlined (among other things) by the light of the one-handed backhand, for the naturalness of Alcaraz’s shots, the ease with which they come out of his racketplays in the same elite league.

Even in his physical build, perfect for a tennis player because he is neither too tall nor too short, the Spaniard is a successful summa: Nadal’s center of gravity and powerful (right) forearm, Djokovic’s elasticity and resistance, Federer’s seemingly effortless speed. Slice (Novak), top (Rafa), chop (Roger). There is nothing Carlos Alcaraz can’t do. And just the beginning.