Former world No 1 Jim Courier from America has made some big predictions for Carlos Alcaraz’s immediate future after watching him play Rafael Nadal in the semi finals at Indian Wells.
Although the young Spaniard didn’t win the game and Nadal was the one who progressed to the final, Courier still must have seen something special in the 18-year-old and has made some bold claims.
The world No 16 has two ATP titles to his name including the ATP Next Gen Masters and has reached a Grand Slam quarter final, but the two time French Open champion thinks he can do even better over the next year.
Semifinales de @bnpparibaopen ❌
Nos vamos con la cabeza muy alta de haber hecho muy buen torneo y un partido espectacular contra @RafaelNadal.
Luchamos hasta el final y estuvimos cerca.
Ahora a recuperar y pensar en @MiamiOpen pic.twitter.com/zkExLYusiq— Carlos Alcaraz (@alcarazcarlos03) March 20, 2022
“I think Alcaraz has the potential to do it in the next four majors,” the 51-year-old revealed on Tennis Channel.
“All signs point towards opportunity for him, it wouldn’t surprise me.”
Despite losing the match to a 21 time Grand Slam champion, Alcaraz was still in high spirits after the semi final match at the BNP Paribas Open and conceded that Nadal is a tough opponent but he still thought it was a close match.
In his post match interview, the 18-year-old explained: “I thought that I’m able to beat Rafa in some moments, but as I said yesterday Rafa has a thousand lives, if he’s down he’s able to play at a great level in the tough moments.
“Yeah I thought I could win in the third, at the net he told me great tournament, good luck for the rest of my career.
“I think it was a close match, I leave the tournament happy, I left the court happy with the level, with the performance – the first time he destroyed me, now we played a third set, I’m really happy.”
Alcaraz is next due to be in action at the Miami Open which kicks off from March 23.
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