Mats Wilander believes Carlos Alcaraz has the potential to become the second most impactful player in tennis history as he compared the youngster to Roger Federer.
The Swede is of the view that Alcaraz can do more than implementing the style of Federer in his games as he dubbed as his tennis GOAT.
Alcaraz is currently ranked #3 in the ATP rankings behind Novak Djokovic and Jannik Sinner after winning his first title in eight months at the Indian Wells earlier in March. After his successful title defense in California, the Spaniard fell to Grigor Dimitrov in the quarters of the Miami Open. The 20-year-old has confirmed his presence for the Monte Carlo Masters where he will face either Felix Auger-Aliassime or a qualifier in the opener.
Talking to Eurosport, Wilander proclaimed that Alcaraz may not achieve the same brand of dominance as Djokovic but argued that he is on path to surpass him in greatness.
“No, I don’t believe that he can do that (be world No 1 for 400 weeks). And when I see Carlos Alcaraz play tennis, it reminds me so much of the great Roger Federer,” assessed the former World No.1.
“Again, I normally call him (Federer) the greatest player of all time, and that has nothing to do with the statistics or the results. It has to do with what he meant for the sport, the expectations that people had.
“Carlos Alcaraz is going through the same thing. People are expecting more than a player winning matches. The opponents of Carlos Alcaraz, they love it. They love playing against him, just like Grigor Dimitrov, because it’s fun.
“He hits drop shots, he comes to the net. The fact that Roger Federer was able to stay on top for so long without having that mental intimidation towards his opponents, to me, is one of the reasons why I think he’s the most important tennis player to ever play our sport.
“I think Carlos Alcaraz could become the second most important tennis player to ever play our sport because of what he brings to the court.
“But that doesn’t mean that the consistency in the rankings is going to be in the same way as a Novak Djokovic or even like a Jannik Sinner. It’s not the way he plays tennis.”
The 7-time major champion also made a comment on the expectations placed on Alcaraz to entertain fans like maverick Aussie Nick Kyrgios.
“Carlos Alcaraz is dealing with something that maybe Nick Kyrgios had to deal with at times, which is people are expecting more of Carlos Alcaraz than just winning tennis matches. They are expecting him to hit great shots, to make these unbelievable saves defensively and then turn it around,” Wilander continued.
“I think for him, it’s going to be quite tiring throughout a whole career to always feel like not only does he have to win, but he does feel like I have to perform in the entertainment part. I think falling out of the top two, it’s most probably a little bit of a relief.”