Andy Roddick leaped into the defense of Carlos Alcaraz and said any potential criticism regarding his physical skills are uncalled for.
Roddick spoke to Tennis Channel in the aftermath of one of the greatest ATP Masters 1000 finals in history in which Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz traded hellfire from the baseline for close to four hours, and when the sun went down, and everyone inside the stadium breathed out, Djokovic outlasted his younger rival 5-7, 7-6, 7-6 at the 2023 Cincinnati Masters.
It was a record-extending 39th Masters title for Djokovic who once again defied the odds and the playing conditions to eke out a hard-fought and gutsy win. Roddick stated that Djokovic's game got better as the match wore on and it approached dusk.
Roddick further pointed out that any potential criticism Alcaraz might face is unjustified as he compared how Djokovic, one of the epitome of tennis greatness, wasn't even conversant with his own body at 20 years old. Roddick notes Alcaraz is already vastly superior in terms of physical tolerance and is massively improving, and listed some of the matches to back up his claim.
"Let's give some fair context here. Novak didn't have his body completely figured out when he was 20 years old either, right? Like the book (on how to play these matches) used to be let's extend rallies. What I used to try to do when I was playing Novak would now be a suicide mission against Novak."
"Listen, Carlos Alcaraz is already an hour and a half better than he is normally in extreme conditions when he gets to cramps. Sinner was like 2:20 (2022 US Open quarterfinals), and Norrie last year was 2:20 at this exact tournament. The French Open, it was about the 2:20 mark. Now we're talking about the 3:50 mark, same problem but it's getting better. That's progress."
Roddick, instead, called for patience and says Alcaraz needs time to adjust and figure out his body. The American former No. 1 then explained that at this stage in his career, Alcaraz is bound to experiment and see what works and what doesn't.
"So we do need to give Carlos Alcaraz the appropriate amount of time to figure out his body. I changed midway through, diet can make a huge difference, but it's trial and error, right?"
"There are two things. We shouldn't criticize Carlos too much. It was extremely physical, he played a long three-setter yesterday, the day before that, the day before that, the day before that. And now that's on the side now."
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