Carlos Alcaraz has been compared to Rafael Nadal since he first arrived on the ATP Tour as a teenager.
Alcaraz won his first ATP match when he was just 16-years-old, getting many people talking about the exciting Spanish teenager.
The Murcian has since lived up to those expectations, with Alcaraz winning four major titles already at 21-years-old.
However, when he played Nadal at the Madrid Open just three years ago, Alcaraz still had many improvements that he needed to make to become the player he is today.
Photo by Gonzalo Arroyo Moreno/Getty ImagesWhat Rafael Nadal said Carlos Alcaraz needed to improve in 2021
After wildcard Alcaraz won his first ever match at the Madrid Open in 2021, he set up a highly anticipated second round meeting with top seed Nadal.
Despite this appearing to be an exciting prospect on paper, it was a very one-sided affair that Nadal won, 6-1 6-2, in just an hour and 15 minutes.
When attending his post-match press conference, Nadal was asked many questions about Alcaraz and what he thought his potential was after playing him for the first time.
Nadal was very complimentary towards his compatriot, but highlighted the serve as something that needed work.
“Yeah, when somebody at his age is able to do the things that he’s doing is because you have something special, no?” said Nadal. “And at the same time, he’s humble enough to keep working. He’s passionate about the game. So I really believe that he gonna be able to burn cycles very soon, very fast.
“I really believe that he’s a complete player. I mean, he’s brave, he’s able to go to the net very often. Great forehand, great backhand.
“Of course needs to improve a little bit the serve, but he’s just 18 today, so he has plenty of time. As I said, he’s humble enough and he’s a hard worker, so I don’t have a doubt that he will do it, no? His movement is great.
“I mean, when you make a salad and you are putting ingredients inside the salad, he has, I mean, plenty of ingredients to become a great player. That’s the main thing. Then of course nothing is easy. You’re gonna have big opponents in front.
“I mean, nothing is easy in this life. Be one of the best players in the world and fight for the most important titles is something very difficult, but I really believe that he’s one of the guys that he can do it.”
Photo by Oscar Gonzalez/NurPhoto via Getty Images
Alcaraz won only 41% of his points on first serve on that day, and also hit three costly double faults.
While it can still be a vulnerability of his at times, Alcaraz has worked a lot on his serve since that defeat to Nadal.
When did Carlos Alcaraz beat Rafael Nadal for the first time?
That was one of three meetings between Alcaraz and Nadal before the latter retired last year.
Nadal beat Alcaraz once again in the 2022 Indian Wells semi-finals, but just two months later the young Spanish star got his revenge.
In their Madrid Open rematch just one year later, Alcaraz beat Nadal in three sets to show a real sign of the progress that he had made.
When speaking in his post-match press conference, Nadal complimented Alcaraz and suggested that he saw the match as a bit of a passing of the torch.
“Well, first of all, congratulations to him,” said Nadal. “I don’t know, handover, of course it is. He’s 19-years-old. His birthday was yesterday. Me, I’m 36-years-old. Of course it’s a handover.
“From here onwards, if it’s today or not, we will see next months. First thing I’m happy in that regard. He has been better than me in several aspects of the match and several aspects of the game, and I need to improve, as I have said, these days.
“Nothing that’s not inside what’s logical, and I just accept it naturally with calm and with security that there is a path to continue until in two-and-a-half weeks’ time, more or less, to try to generate with myself real options, and that’s what I’m working on right now.
“It’s an easy loss to digest in that regard, because we knew what we could expect here, and now because of that, I don’t take away any merit from Carlos. Congratulations to him. He’s playing great, and I hope the best for him for the rest of the tournament.”
Alcaraz would go onto beat Novak Djokovic in his subsequent semi-final match before triumphing over Alexander Zverev to win the Madrid Open title.
The 2025 edition of the tournament is fastly approaching, with Alcaraz one of the Madrid favorites as the top seed.