Carlos Alcaraz recently admitted that dealing with negative comments was tough, and his colleague Holger Rune defended him.
Being a professional athlete is difficult, not just because of the physical but also the mental aspect. Not only are they expected to be superb athletes, but they are also basically expected not to be human.
They have to be strong and never complain; otherwise, fans will have an opinion. There is a lot of talk about modern athletes being kind of 'soft,' which is also how recent comments from Alcaraz were perceived by some.
The Spaniard recently opened up about his difficulty dealing with negative comments. Every player gets them all the time, but sometimes, it just gets too much. Paula Badosa recently spoke about the amount of judgment coming towards tennis players and how tough it can be.
As somebody who basically grew up with Alcaraz on the ATP Tour, Rune certainly has some things to say. He's had a lot of detractors himself, so he knows full well how it is. He battled the Spaniard when they were kids so there is a lot of respect and admiration between them.
When asked about the negative comments surrounding Alcaraz at the 2024 Indian Wells Open, Rune simply dismissed it, admitting that it's really tough to find anything negative about his colleague, given his incredible success.
"To answer about how Carlos felt about it, you know, I mean, it's a little bit tough to be negative on Carlos. What he's been doing, I mean, it's unbelievable, winning two Grand Slams already, he's 20 years old. I think that there is not much to be negative about."
It's good to see this respect between these young superstars because they will lead the sport forward in the coming decade. As Novak Djokovic pointed out, tennis is in very good hands with Alcaraz, Jannik Sinner, and Rune.
0 Comments