Carlos Alcaraz was spotted lining up his bottles like Rafael Nadal in the Wimbledon final, and perhaps it proved a good luck charm.
Alcaraz is a very keen student of the game who doesn't shy away from trying things that work for other players. The Spaniard has been widely described as a mix of Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, and Roger Federer, with the Serbian himself sharing a similar opinion following the Wimbledon final.
That final saw Alcaraz outplay Djokovic for the first time on the Grand Slam level as he secured his 2nd Grand Slam trophy at Wimbledon. It was a huge win for the Spaniard who actually received a good luck message from Nadal before the match.
He used one of Nadal's things during the match as he lined up his bottles the same way Nadal does for every match. It's not the first time that Alcaraz has done that, as he was spotted doing that earlier this year in Madrid as well. He hasn't talked about the reasons though, but he did it again at Wimbledon.
Whether that actually helped him in some ways is hard to tell, but for Nadal, his rituals are very important. He's also a player with a lot of them though many players have rituals. It's a calming thing for many players who are under tremendous pressure during a tennis match.
Alcaraz himself struggled with that in the past, admitting to feeling the pressure more than once, and it cost him dearly at Roland Garros. He handled it far better at Wimbledon, holding his serve after not converting some of the chances in the fourth set.
Despite that, he came out and won the 5th set surviving a few good punches from the Serbian. Let's see if Alcaraz keeps emulating Nadal or some other legendary player with more stuff than just his brilliant play.
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