Carlos Alcaraz is consistently flooring players and pundits with his athleticism, and one of his shots has been called ‘very rare’ by a former Wimbledon champion.
Alcaraz is yet to find his best tennis at Wimbledon, but he’s safely made his way to the fourth round of the competition.
The Spaniard has already dropped four sets in his opening four Wimbledon matches as he looks to capture his third SW19 tournament in a row.
Despite his rocky start to his title defence, a former Wimbledon champion has been left stunned by one of Alcaraz’s shots in particular.
Pat Cash stunned by Carlos Alcaraz’s unconventional arm strokes
Alcaraz’s fourth match may not have started the way the Spaniard would have wanted, with the defending champion dropping the opening set to Andrey Rublev, but he was still mightily impressive on the court.
1987 Wimbledon champion Pat Cash was left floored by Alcaraz’s technique in particular, and compared him to some of the greats of tennis.
“When you watch Carlos Alcaraz’s strokes, watch the contact point and his arm,” said Cash during BBC’s coverage of the tournament.
The Australian continued: “His hitting arm is straight when he makes contact with the ball, which is very rare in tennis.
“There are only a few players who can hit through a shot with a straight arm. It gives a lot of power if you can contact the ball in that way, but it is very difficult to do.”
Cash was so impressed he compared Alcaraz to two of the best players to ever play the sport. “Only the super freakishly-talented people can do that, those people include Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal.”
Alcaraz will set up a clash with Britain’s Cameron Norrie if he beats Rublev in his fourth round match.
Carlos Alcaraz responds to Patrick Mouratoglou’s ‘partying’ claims
Alcaraz has responded to Patrick Mouratoglou’s claims Jannik Sinner would win more Grand Slams in his career because of the Spaniard’s party lifestyle.
“They’re funny comments, which, coming from him, doesn’t surprise me,” the Roland Garros champion said to TalkSport.
The star believes his inconsistencies are not down to partying, and he’s revealed he’s working on reaching Sinner’s level-headed nature.
“It’s no secret that Jannik has fewer ups and downs than me,” added Alcaraz. “It’s something I’ve been working on. It has nothing to do with the nightlife world.”
Alcaraz leads his head to head with Sinner, winning eight of their 12 matches together since 2021.