'Alcaraz Is Going To Be The Greatest Ever, Unless He Gets Hurt': Billie Jean King Predicts

| by Jake Davies

Billie Jean King made a rather bold prediction for the future of Carlos Alcaraz in the years that lie ahead.

Carlos Alcaraz has had an undeniably exceptional year, having picked up six tour-level titles and rallying to his second career Grand Slam title at this year's Wimbledon, where he beat Novak Djokovic in an epic final. The Spaniard even made two finals on the South-American clay of Rio and recently came up short by losing the Cincinnati Masters final to Novak Djokovic in one of the matches of the season.

On top of that, Alcaraz is the youngest to become World No.1 in the ATP Rankings in the Open Era, and it is because of that rapid speed of success that has led to a lot of former legends making really bold predictions about his future at the top of the game. Billie Jean King is one of those former legends as she praised the two-time major winner:

"I first saw him when he was 18, and I said, I will say now, he is going to be the greatest ever, unless he gets hurt."

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Billie Jean King firmly believes that generations evolve over time, and when discussing Alcaraz's potential she maintains that opinion:

"Every generation gets better. I hate it when old players say they could win now, but are you kidding, we wouldn't get a point."

Alcaraz's ability to learn from tough defeats and adjust to unfamiliar surfaces is something that will help him considerably moving forward, but there are several factors in play that might mean he will not get to the heights many are predicting. Those factors being the quality of the field changing, the demands on the body to produce at a high level for many years, and we do not know whether the motivation will always be ever-present.

With that being said, Alcaraz has fantastic versatility and an all-round skillset, and if he continues to use it well, he might just maintain his grip over the rest of the field for a number of years yet.

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