Rafael Nadal was one of the best teenagers in the ATP's history, but still, Carlos Alcaraz is capable of going head-to-head with the fellow Spaniard.
It seems that Spain attracts teenage prodigies, as both Spanish players had tremendous success during their teenage years. At this point, they are in completely different stages of their careers, but still, they will meet on the tennis court for an exhibition.
Nadal, now 37, had a successful teenage career, and aged 20 years and 222 days, which is exactly Alcaraz's age on December 13th, 2023, he was ranked 2nd in the ATP Rankings.
However, the main difference is that while Nadal was never ranked as world no. 1 before, Alcaraz already managed to do it when he won the 2022 US Open, becoming the youngest man to achieve the feat.
Currently, Alcaraz has two Grand Slam titles to his name, the same amount that Nadal had when he was 20 years and 222 days old. However, the main difference is that while the Spanish King of Clay won both of his majors at the Roland Garros, Alcaraz already managed to win at Wimbledon and US Open, something that Nadal did not achieve until he was 22, and 24, respectively.
One statistic that Nadal beats his younger colleague in is number of ATP titles. In his teenage years and early 20s, the Spaniard seemed to be unstoppable, racking up 17 Tour-level title, while until this point, Alcaraz managed to win "only" 12 titles.
Yet, the youngster is better when it comes to Top-10 wins, recording already 23 of those, while young Nadal managed to beat only 17 Top 10 players at this very specific age.
While both are seemingly tied at the moment (retrospectively from Nadal's perspective), only time will tell whether Alcaraz will be able to replicate the success of his older compatriot, who won 22 Grand Slam titles in his career.
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