Andre Agassi feels that Alcaraz defends like Djokovic, has energy and spin like Nadal, and has fingers and finesse like Federer.
| Photograph Credit score: File photograph: VIVEK BENDRE
What sportspersons covet probably the most is the respect of their friends and appreciation from previous champions. In a brief profession, Carlos Alcaraz has obtained loads of it, and on Wednesday, he bought one other wholesome dose from none apart from Andre Agassi, albeit with a sprinkling of warning.
“Alcaraz defends like Novak [Djokovic], has energy and spin like [Rafael] Nadal, and has fingers and finesse like [Roger] Federer,” Agassi stated, on the sidelines of the TiE World Summit 2024 right here. “However simply because he has one of the best of all three doesn’t imply he can do what they did. Choice-making, accidents and luck… there are such a lot of issues”.
However one factor everybody will agree on is that Alcaraz, together with Jannik Sinner, has ushered in a brand-new period. And after Nadal’s retirement, 24-time Slam winner Djokovic is the final man standing from the earlier technology.
“I feel he’ll run out of vitality greater than functionality, particularly when the folks you got here to the dance with have left,” Agassi stated of Djokovic. “When Pete [Sampras] retired, I needed to rediscover my inspiration. Djokovic has misplaced the fellows he made historical past with. Emotionally it’s more durable. However I’d by no means wager in opposition to him”.
Agassi was a part of a golden technology of American singles gamers within the Nineteen Nineties that received a number of Majors. However since Andy Roddick on the 2003 US Open, the US hasn’t had one. The eight-time Slam winner, nonetheless, believes this might quickly change.
“We [have] bought 5 guys within the high 20 [sic: 25], and I feel you want one another to succeed. In my group, I used to be the primary one to show skilled, and I made [Michael] Chang, Pete, [Jim] Courier consider.
“Chang was the primary one to win [1989 French Open]. He made Pete consider that he might win. He then made Courier consider. And Courier stated, ‘properly, I may be No. 1 on the earth’. All of us helped one another, and I feel these Individuals are actually beginning to show [the same]”.
The ladies, although, are up there, with Coco Gauff main the best way. “The ladies’s recreation hasn’t needed to take care of Federer, Novak, Rafa, Sinner and Alcaraz,” Agassi stated with a smile. “However they’ve their very own model of it. Serena [Williams] is the Novak of the ladies’s recreation and you’ve got Coco with potential.
“The explanation for American [men] not successful is an unlucky set of a long time the place the fellows (Federer, Nadal and Djokovic) had been very stingy and grasping. I imply, 66 Grand Slams in the identical technology! There’s not rather a lot left there”.
Printed – December 11, 2024 08:27 pm IST
