Carlos Alcaraz continues to impress at Queen’s as he books his place in the semi-finals.
The Spanish star travelled to London not long after Alcaraz’s thrilling French Open victory against Jannik Sinner.
Immediately finding his footing on the grass, Alcaraz beat Adam Walton 6-4, 7-6, in his opening match at the Queen’s Club Championships.
He faced a far tougher test in round two, when Alcaraz outlasted Jaume Munar in a three-set thriller on Andy Murray Arena.
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Normal service resumed in the quarterfinals, as Alcaraz booked his place in the Queen’s semi-finals with a straight sets win over Arthur Rinderknech.
Reacting to Alcaraz’s latest win at Queen’s, former doubles Grand Slam champion CoCo Vandeweghe highlighted the area where the 22-year-old is already better than his fellow Spaniard, Rafael Nadal.
CoCo Vandeweghe says Carlos Alcaraz suffers from ‘less technical difficulties’ than Rafael Nadal on grass
Appearing on the Tennis Channel Live podcast, Vandeweghe assessed how comfortable Alcaraz is on grass, comparing him to Nadal.
“Expectations come when you have a Grand Slam. You are expected to dominate not only on the surface you won at but also the surfaces you are comfortable and not comfortable at,” she said.
“Definitely, I think that was a conversation. Grass would be his toughest surface, and when we always think of Carlos Alcaraz, we think of another great Spaniard in Rafa Nadal and how long it took him to be successful at Wimbledon.
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“Granted, he was playing one of the best grass-court players of all time in Roger Federer. Playing Fed on grass is a tough customer. But I think Carlos on grass just has so much game and less of the technical difficulties that Rafa had.”
At just 22 years of age, Alcaraz has already matched Nadal’s tally of two Wimbledon titles.
- Rafael Nadal won 2008 Wimbledon
- Rafael Nadal won 2010 Wimbledon
- Carlos Alcaraz won 2023 Wimbledon
- Carlos Alcaraz won 2024 Wimbledon
Vandeweghe continued on, reacting to Andre Agassi’s comments about Alcaraz on grass.
“[Andre] Agassi said it best in that his movement is the least compromised on grass compared to the top players in the world, whom he is competing against,” she said.
Why did Rafael Nadal only win two Wimbledon titles?
Nadal beat Czechia’s Tomas Berdych to win his second Wimbledon title in 2010 at the age of 24.
Few would have predicted it would be his last, as it seemed likely Nadal would add to his tally before the end of his career.
Returning to the final in 2011, Nadal took on Serbia’s Novak Djokovic, looking to win Wimbledon for a third time.
It wasn’t to be, however, as Nadal lost in straight sets 4-6, 1-6, 6-1, 3-6, as Djokovic lifted his first Wimbledon title.
The Spaniard then began to struggle at the All England Club, failing to return to the quarterfinals in each of his next five visits.
Rafael Nadal at Wimbledon 2012-2017
It’s widely understood that the injuries Nadal picked up throughout his career significantly hampered his grass-court game.
Those injuries partially explain the shocking early exits Nadal suffered at SW19 from 2012-2017.
Photo by Yunus Kaymaz/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images
As Nadal so often did, he found a solution in 2018, returning to the latter stages of Wimbledon for his last three appearances.
- 2018 Wimbledon SF – Rafael Nadal lost to Novak Djokovic, 4-6, 6-3, 6-7, 6-3, 8-10
- 2019 Wimbledon SF – Rafael Nadal lost to Roger Federer, 6-7, 6-1, 3-6, 4-6
- 2022 Wimbledon SF – Rafael Nadal withdrew before match with Nick Kyrgios due to injury
He was, however, unable to add another Wimbledon title to his collection, retiring from tennis in 2024 as a two-time champion.
It may seem inevitable that Alcaraz will surpass Nadal’s career achievements at Wimbledon, but there is no such thing as a foregone conclusion in tennis.
Alcaraz will look to win his third consecutive Wimbledon title when the 2025 tournament begins on Monday, June 30.