Andy Murray gave his thoughts on Carlos Alcaraz’s game style after being one of the first players to correctly predict his success. The Brit also watched Alcaraz beat Novak Djokovic in the Wimbledon final.
Andy Murray said he hopes to see Carlos Alcaraz stick with his “Kamikaze” game style after watching the world No 1 down Novak Djokovic at Wimbledon. Murray was one of the first players to predict Alcaraz’s success before the Spaniard had even reached the world’s top 50. And he has explained why he always knew the two-time Grand Slam champion would be a force in the sport.
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Murray was in the stands to watch Alcaraz be crowned the Wimbledon champion last month which made the Spaniard the first man in a decade to beat Djokovic on Centre Court since none other than Murray himself. And it came less than two years after the Brit tipped him to be the next world No 1.
The three-time Grand Slam winner has now opened up on the reason he confidently predicted Alcaraz to be successful and shared his wish for the 20-year-old to stick to his guns when it comes to his playing style. “The thing that I love about watching him is just the freedom that he plays with and part of that is youth I think,” Murray told the ATP.
With Alcaraz now cementing himself as the man to beat on the tour, Murray doesn’t want to see the 20-year-old forget what made him so special. He continued: “I just hope he doesn’t lose that.
Andy Murray watched Carlos Alcaraz beat Novak Djokovic to win Wimbledon (Image: Getty)
“That’s the one thing I would love to just see him continue to play that sort of style of tennis that he plays with. The drop shots or serve-volleys. Sometimes it looks a little bit Kamikaze, but he just is totally instinctive. And I love that.”
Reflecting on his initial prediction about Alcaraz, Murray also said he initially didn’t know the Spaniard “really well” and had to go to his coach for answers. “I asked Ferrero, ‘Does he love tennis? Does he work hard?’” he explained, referring to former world No 1 and 2003 French Open champion Juan Carlos Ferrero.
Murray was informed that Alcaraz was “really good with that stuff. Like he’s brilliant, he’s really into it”. The world No 40 added: “That was sort of enough for me having seen his game and then hearing from his coach and someone who knows what hard work is like that he was going to go on potentially to have a great career.”
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A two-time Wimbledon champion, Murray also opened up on his experience of watching Alcaraz end Djokovic’s reign at SW19. “I thought that the last few sets were really good. It was very hard conditions that day,” he said.
“I don’t know on the TV how easy it was to see but it was really windy, but it wasn’t like consistent wind. It was blustery and lots of gusts. The first couple of sets, tennis-wise, I didn’t think were amazing. But I thought the last few sets considering how hard it was, there was some brilliant, brilliant stuff in there and I really enjoyed the final.”
