Carlos Alcaraz has gone back and forth on who his idol is, but for the most part, he does identify with Roger Federer most in tennis terms.
When the Spaniard was breaking through, he let it slip that he grew up idolizing the Swiss Maestro. There is a video of a teenage Alcaraz praising Federer, but not much changed after that.
As he became more prominent, Alcaraz started to include Rafael Nadal among his idols because he is from Spain, and he grew up watching his fellow compatriot.
Whether Nadal or Federer is truly his idol matters little in the end, but he does seem to favor Federer purely in tennis terms. Speaking to the Tennis Channel, Alcaraz admitted that Rafael Nadal is apparently his idol but wants to play more like Federer.
"I always say that my idol is Rafa but I want to say that I really want to play like Roger, I’m not gonna lie, you know, his style, his elegance on the court is something amazing."
It's pretty hard to really say to whom his game looks most similar because he has elements of all members of the Big Three. Many have chimed in on that topic, and he himself noted that he wants to be the first Alcaraz, not the second coming of somebody else.
"I’ve said it many times my game is more similar than Roger’s game and I would like to play like him. I would love to play against him, at least just once, but yeah, hope to do it."
Federer and the Spanish youngster met a few times, but they never managed to play against each other on the ATP Tour. Perhaps we will see them in some exhibition in the future, but as of now, nothing is on the horizon.
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