Novak Djokovic’s coach fires back at doubters after ‘strange’ Carlos Alcaraz suggestion
Goran Ivanisevic has revealed his amazement that Carlos Alcaraz was favourite for his French Open semi-final with Novak Djokovic as he warned the Serb has the hunger to keep on winning. “You can’t ever bet against Novak,” said the Croatian coach.
Djokovic won a male record 23rd Major singles title at the French Open and returns to world No.1 today for a 388th week. He leads both old rivals Rafa Nadal and Roger Federer in the GOAT race for the first time. He is now also halfway to a calendar Grand Slam and will be the red-hot favourite to win a fifth consecutive Wimbledon title.
But US Open champion Alcaraz was heavily fancied to win his generation game with Djokovic in the semis before the Spaniard suffered full-body cramps due to nervous tension.
And 1992 Wimbledon champion Ivanisevic admitted: “All this for me was a little strange. I read a lot of people saying that Alcaraz is a favourite against Novak. You cannot say that. The guy played 33 Grand Slam finals. He won 22 Grand Slams.
“Alcaraz is the next unbelievable, he’s amazing, I love Carlos, and he’s going to win I don’t know how many Grand Slams, but you cannot say that he’s a favourite. Yeah, he played better coming here. But this is a Grand Slam. This is nerves. You see what happened in the third set to him. And Novak knows. Novak knows. Novak waits.
