‘WE ARE CHANGING THE KING’ – RAFAEL NADAL PASSING THE BATON TO

Carlos Alcaraz and Rafael Nadal are at opposite ends of their careers, and Alex Corretja believes Spanish tennis is “changing the King”, as ‘Carlitos’ continues to make his presence felt at the very top of the sport. Alcaraz is part of the “new generation” making everything “faster”, reckons Corretja, as the 20-year-old bids to reach the Australian Open second week for the first time.

Rafael Nadal has made his long-awaited return from injury, but the progression of compatriot Carlos Alcaraz to the very elite of the game means Spanish tennis is “changing the King”, believes former world No. 2 Alex Corretja.

Alcaraz has starred at the Australian Open in the tournament’s first week, seeing off Richard Gasquet and Lorenzo Sonego on his way to the third round, where he will play China Shang Juncheng.

Nadal, by contrast, did not make the year’s first major, succumbing to another – less serious – injury on his comeback to the sport.

The Australian Open remains an outlier on Alcaraz’s record, with the 20-year-old yet to progress past the third round, whereas he has made at least the semi-finals at all three of the game’s other Slams.

“If you see the results, he’s been winning matches like all the legends do, [Novak] Djokovic, Nadal, [Roger] Federer,” Corretja, appearing on Eurosport’s The Cube, said of Alcaraz.

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“So, the comparisons are understandable. Here in Spain, we had Rafa, so expectations were very high and now we have ‘Carlitos’, so it is like we are changing the king.

“Yes, we still have Rafa to come back, but we are so blessed to have Carlitos as he brings always so much emotion into the game, he always smiles.

“And he’s more like a new generation, new generation because they want everything for now, everything has to be faster and that’s the way Carlitos plays, so I would say it is all adjusted to the modern era.”

Mats Wilander, alongside Corretja, wondered aloud whether facing Alcaraz is quite the daunting, “uphill” prospect it is facing Nadal, given the younger Spaniard’s more “fun” approach to the sport.