Former legendary player Jimmy Connors and ATP's No. 1 warned Carlos Alcaraz about being obsessed with Novak Djokovic because there are other players as well.
Carlos Alcaraz has been Djokovic's main rival for much of this year, as they played a couple of great battles. Both scored wins, but overall, Djokovic performed better, getting three of the four Grand Slams this year compared to only one for Alcaraz.
He recently admitted that he always thinks about Djokovic, and former legendary player Jimmy Connors isn't a fan of that quote. The former player explained it in the most recent episode of the Advantage Connors Podcast, noting that Alcaraz should think about other players besides Djokovic.
My first thought about it [Alcaraz's quote] is, I get that, even though Alcaraz beat him at Wimbledon, he's been kind of a thorn in his side a little bit. But he’s got to be careful doing that because then you're preparing for only one guy.
And I understand also that you think ‘well if I’m playing good enough to be that guy, I'll be able to beat everybody else too’ but that's not really true because other guys have different games, as he saw with Sinner. And the way he plays is different than the way Novak, Alcaraz or Medvedev. These guys, they're big, they're strong.
It's an interesting perspective from Connors, who has played tennis at a very high level, battling several rivals over the years. He knows that dangers lurk in many matchups, so obsessing over one could leave you vulnerable against others, and we've seen that play out in real-time as Alcaraz lost to Jannik Sinner and Daniil Medvedev recently.
Alcaraz likely doesn't only think about Djokovic but he certainly observes him to learn from him and that's not a terrible thing. What he's been able to do in his career is truly amazing and many players search for inspiration in that.
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