Carlos Alcaraz had a pretty good 2023, but there were some things that he couldn't handle, such as Novak Djokovic.
The 20-year-old handled the Serbian in arguably the biggest match of his career as he bested him in the Wimbledon final. That was one battle in the war but Djokovic won the war.
He bested Alcaraz a few times on the court directly but also in general achievements. The 24-time major winner finished the year with three out of the four Grand Slams last year compared to only one for Alcaraz.
That's a stat the Spaniard needs to change because, as former player Martina Navratilova pointed out when speaking on Tennis Channel, Djokovic is a problem for him. He handled being number one and beating him in a Grand Slam final, but he didn't handle him generally, as he lost a couple of big matches against him.
"I think he handled it [people gunning for him] pretty well last year, because he was number one the year before and then he ended up having a great year this last year, where everybody knows how to play him. Now that was the sophomore year, so he ended it beautifully. The only person he couldn't handle was Novak."
An interesting test is coming up for him at the upcoming Australian Open, where he's playing without his coach, Juan Carlos Ferrero, and he's an integral part of Alcaraz's team. If you pay close attention to his matches, you quickly notice how often he glances towards his coach during matches.
There won't be any of that in Melbourne, and Alcaraz acknowledged it as a challenge. Navratilova is curious to see how he handles it.
"I would like to see him, especially now that Juan Carlos is not there, to see him just stay on the court a little more and don't look at the box after every single point trying to get advice or encouragement. I mean the fans are on his side. It's not like he's not the favorite and everybody's rooting against him."
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