{"id":257350,"date":"2025-07-11T22:44:11","date_gmt":"2025-07-11T22:44:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/257350\/"},"modified":"2025-07-11T22:44:11","modified_gmt":"2025-07-11T22:44:11","slug":"the-kindness-of-carlos-fans-and-former-coaches-hail-always-humble-alcaraz-carlos-alcaraz","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/257350\/","title":{"rendered":"The kindness of Carlos: fans and former coaches hail \u2018always humble\u2019 Alcaraz | Carlos Alcaraz"},"content":{"rendered":"

Is Carlos Alcaraz<\/a> the kindest man in tennis? His childhood coaches, fans and the 79-year-old widow who collapsed during one of his matches certainly think so.<\/p>\n

The 22-year-old Spaniard, who is riding a 24-match win streak, has spent the last fortnight charming spectators and players alike \u2013 and not just with his tennis skills.<\/p>\n

The five-time grand slam champion has won hearts as well as matches at Wimbledon, where he reached the finals for the third consecutive year, after defeating the US player Taylor Fritz<\/a> in four sets on Friday.<\/p>\n

Kiko Navarro, Alcaraz\u2019s former coach in his home town of El Palmar, a village in Murcia, is not surprised by the star\u2019s good manners or popularity. \u201cHis happiness in his face, which he spreads to the spectators, it was the same when he was a child,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\"AA young Carlos Alcaraz with his then coach, Kiko Navarro, in his home town of El Palmar, Murcia, Spain. Photograph: Kiko Navarro<\/p>\n

\u201cHe has always been a humble person. Since he was little, when we would go to play, people would look at us and see that he was the best. And I liked to think that, well, if one day he becomes a tennis player, he would keep that humility, that closeness he has with people \u2013 and that is why he has won over all the public.\u201d<\/p>\n

Alcaraz\u2019s acts of kindness at Wimbledon<\/a> have been plentiful and well documented, often neatly translating into bite-size clips that go viral on social media. They include handing over his signed shirt to his Italian opponent Fabio Fognini\u2019s son, Federico, who is a huge fan, and making time to say hello to the four-year-old son of the retired Spanish player Feliciano L\u00f3pez, who was at SW19 for the invitation doubles.<\/p>\n

Alcaraz also appeared to be the first person to spot 79-year-old Delyth Lewis struggling in the heat<\/a> in the fifth hour of his five-set epic against Fognini. Alcaraz rushed to the umpire to halt the game before picking up his own water bottles and going to her aid when she fainted. This week the retired bank worker said she was \u201ctruly grateful\u201d for his actions: \u201cI\u2019m his number one fan and I hope he lifts the trophy on Sunday.\u201d<\/p>\n

Alcaraz hands over a water bottle after Delyth Lewis fainted during his first-round match at Wimbledon. Photograph: Tolga Akmen\/EPA<\/p>\n

Alcaraz will face either Novak Djokovic or the world No 1, Jannik Sinner, on Sunday before next month\u2019s US Open, where he will also play mixed doubles with the British No 1, Emma Raducanu, who he has affectionately said is \u201cgoing to be the boss\u201d<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Navarro said Alcaraz\u2019s good deeds were not for the cameras or sponsorship deals, of which he has many. \u201cIt shows that he is a very sensitive person,\u201d he said. \u201cHe loves those kind of gestures.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese are things that come from the heart, which are not things that he does to win over people or brands. He has all his contracts, everything is perfect, but the truth is that he knows how to help people. He has his foundation here in Murcia, Fundaci\u00f3n Alcaraz, to help the poorest children, and he loves it, he loves to help people.\u201d<\/p>\n

The consensus was the same among tennis insiders who this week said that what you saw was what you got with Alcaraz, which cannot be said for all players.<\/p>\n

Alcaraz hugs Fabio Fognini at the end of their first-round match at Wimbledon. Photograph: Henry Nicholls\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Alcaraz often speaks generously of his opponents after defeating them on the courts. On Tuesday he described the former British No 1 Cameron Norrie as \u201can amazing guy\u201d, adding: \u201cNo one works harder than him and it is nice to see him fighting for great things<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

He also only had warm words to say about the qualifier Oliver Tarvet, who he beat in straight sets<\/a>, predicting that the British 21-year-old could go on to achieve great things. He later commented on an Instagram post of Tarvet\u2019s, saying: \u201cGreat run man, keep going.\u201d<\/p>\n

Carlos Santos, who coached Alcaraz from the ages of five to 12, said he had always been polite. \u201cHe was always a nice boy. He was magic. He was always smiling. He was a special boy. When Carlos was only 10 years old we travelled around Europe together, and he never caused any problems in the hotel or in matches. He\u2019s different,\u201d he recalled.<\/p>\n

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Alcaraz signs autographs after defeating Cameron Norrie in the quarter-final. Photograph: Shi Tang\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

His experience echoed that of Navarro, who said he had never seen Alcaraz deny a fan a photograph or autograph. And that was no different at Wimbledon on Friday morning. \u201cI feel really good,\u201d said a beaming 13-year-old Zoe McCallum, clutching a signed tennis ball Alcaraz had just given her. \u201cHe\u2019s just very good at tennis,\u201d she said in answer to why she was a huge fan.<\/p>\n

The schoolgirl and her father, Gavin McCallum, were among hundreds of spectators who had lined up to watch Alcaraz practise on court 16 at 11am before the Spaniard\u2019s semi-final clash against Fritz.<\/p>\n

As well as handing out balls to his youngest admirers at the end of his session, Alcaraz patiently waved and smiled at the hordes who took photos of him and shouted: \u201cVamos Carlos! We hope you win!\u201d<\/p>\n

McCallum, 50, who had travelled from Glasgow, said: \u201cHe\u2019s the new generation. Everybody loved Rafa [Rafael Nadal] but he\u2019s going to be the new Spanish king of tennis. He\u2019s got really good charisma. He\u2019s in the middle of getting ready for the semi-final and he gave my daughter a signed tennis ball. He\u2019s a man of the people. He seems really down to earth; he\u2019s not too up himself and he\u2019s taking time to do stuff with fans which is great. He didn\u2019t have to do it but he\u2019s done it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"AlcarzYoung Alcaraz with his childhood coach, Kiko Navarro. Photograph: Kiko Navarro<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s just incredibly entertaining,\u201d said 17-year-old Sophie Moore, who was also waiting to catch a glimpse of the man of the moment. \u201cAnd very good looking,\u201d interrupted her friend Lola Moffatt, 16. \u201cGood looking, young and good at tennis,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

The students, who hope to have successful tennis careers themselves, said he was the most popular player among their peers. \u201cHe\u2019s very personable and humble, compared with other players who are quite immodest,\u201d said Moore.<\/p>\n

It is why Navarro thinks Alcaraz could be one of the kindest players in the sport. \u201cBecause in tennis, unfortunately, there are many \u2013 I am not going to say names \u2013 but they are not very kind to people. It seems that, in the end, in tennis, the public face is also important for brands and sponsors. That\u2019s why Carlos, as well as from his tennis, his way of being gets him such good contracts, with all the best brands in the world.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut for me what\u2019s important is how Carlitos is, and if Carlitos is kind, that\u2019s enough for me.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Is Carlos Alcaraz the kindest man in tennis? His childhood coaches, fans and the 79-year-old widow who collapsed…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":257351,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4105],"tags":[79,1068,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-257350","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tennis","8":"tag-sports","9":"tag-tennis","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114837026622170816","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/257350","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=257350"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/257350\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/257351"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=257350"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=257350"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=257350"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}