World No. 7 Casper Ruud labeled Carlos Alcaraz as a “rare talent” as he has tipped the 18-year-old Spaniard to have a great career.
Alcaraz has gotten off to a stunning start to 2022, winning his first Masters title in Miami and reaching a career-high ranking of No. 11 in the world.
It was Ruud that Alcaraz beat to win his first Masters title as the Spaniard handed the Norwegian a 7-5 6-4 loss in the Miami final.
“He’s one of those new rare talents that you don’t see that often,” Ruud said of Alcaraz on the Ruud Talk.
“And obviously if you look back in history, you see that these kind of players reach far and win big titles. And he’s already won one of the bigger titles of the sports.
“So I think we’re all impressed and I am also, but many players they have close matches with him and of course he’s beatable.”
Ruud: Alcaraz plays aggressive and he has success while doing so
Many believe that having a strong team has been one of the keys to Alcaraz’s early success.
Alcaraz is coached by former world No. 1 Juan Carlos Ferrero and he can also turn to Rafael Nadal for advice whenever he needs one.
“It’s not like he’s inhuman, but he’s very impressive and I think of course he’ll probably only get better as the years go by and he’ll practice more and I know he’s a hard worker,” Ruud added.
“He has a good team around him, Juan Carlos Ferrero has done all this before, he was [World] number one before. Also from Juan Carlos’ perspective, I think it would be fun and his goal is probably to produce another World number one like a junior version of himself in a way.
“It’s impressive to watch and he’s very fearless on court, he goes for big shots at big moments and doesn’t hold back.
“He goes with a lot of power and risky shots, but he makes a lot of them. So it doesn’t always seem as risky.
“But as a player myself, you get surprised sometimes that he goes for certain shots, but he does them very often very well.”