Veteran American coach Rick Macci believes Carlos Alcaraz's spectacular rise has pushed every player on the ATP Tour out of their comfort zones to work harder and smarter.
Earlier this year, Macci called Alcaraz the most complete player in the sport, given his quick mastery of all the surfaces and the vast array of shots he's got at his disposal. Macci's prophetic assertion couldn't be more true than when Alcaraz won a maiden grass court title at Wimbledon this year.
At only 20, Alcaraz's dominance is starting to show week in and week out and in the biggest events on the calendar. His five-set win over Novak Djokovic led many to proclaim that the changing of the guard has now happened in tennis. Macci referred to him as a generational talent in an exclusive interview with us.
The 68-year-old, a former coach of the Williams sisters, Andy Roddick, and even Maria Sharapova, knows to spot talent when he sees it, and he's been metaphorical in describing Alcaraz's role in improving his fellow pros to work in a subtle way to get better.
"Carlos Alcaraz is the best motivator on the ATP tour as he has made every player work harder work smarter and visit a local hardware store and buy more tools."
While Macci's view is that Alcaraz has most likely improved closest challengers such as Djokovic, Daniil Medvedev and Jannik Sinner, a former American tennis player Jimmy Arias previously stated that Alcaraz misses competition outside Djokovic.
The Tennis Channel commentator argues that the Big 3 always pushed each to limits not the other players got to, Alcaraz currently has a 36-year-old Djokovic as his major contender at the Grand Slams. Since the start of 2022, the four Grand Slams have been shared by Djokovic, Alcaraz and Rafael Nadal.
To an extent, we have seen players like Daniil Medvedev, Stefanos Tsitsipas, and Andrey Rublev win Masters titles in recent years, but none of them have actually beaten him since he got to number one. While Jannik Sinner, who is touted as Alcaraz's biggest rival has yet to win a Masters lets alone a major.
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