Carlos Alcaraz It seems that his future success is predetermined because he’s so talented, young and so successful.
Of course someone that fast, with hands as soft as an artisan’s and a physique that lands him right in the not-too-tall and not-too-short Goldilocks zone of the modern tennis greats, would become the youngest world No. First in the history of the ATP ranking. He It’s also a good gene. He was born in Spain, where his father had been a professional as a teenager.
It was all predestined AlcarazThe 20-year old champion comes to Paris is the clear favorite this week to win the French Open, wasn’t it?
You might not.
As happens so often in sports, and especially in tennis, where early exposure and training are essential, there was an element of luck that helped create the sport’s heir apparent to the troika of Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic that has ruled the men’s game for the better part of the last two decades.
That luck ultimately took the form of a local candy company’s logo, which adorned the shirts Alcaraz wore during his matches from the time he was 10 years old. All thanks to happenstance encounters with Alfonso López Rueda, the tennis-playing president of Postres Reina, a Spanish dessert and candy concern known for its puddings and yogurts. López Rueda’s interest in Alcaraz He was able to achieve his goals with the help of others. to travel Europe and begin competing against older boys in unfamiliar settings may be an explanation for the way Alcaraz, from the beginning of his short career, has almost always displayed a kind of joyous serenity, even as the stage grew bigger and the spotlight hotter.
“Some personalities are just adept at that, some have to learn,” Paul Annacone is a former coach of great tennis players Federer, Pete Sampras and others. “He just really seems to enjoy the environment — win, lose, whatever — seems to embrace it.”
It seems that the greatest luck an aspiring tennis athlete can achieve is to be a professional. to Born to Parents who have played at the top level. The pro ranks, especially on the men’s side, are lousy with nepo babies. Casper Ruud is the son of a former professional. Stefanos Tsitsipas and Sebastian Korda are also offsprings. The rackets were in the hands of all these players at an early stage and they had almost unlimited access. to It was best to have someone with the most expertise. to Do with it.
Everyone else needs a little kismet.
Professional tennis players require specialized skills, but the process is expensive and takes a lot of time to perfect. to It is important to start young. In most countries, the system for player development is fragmented at best and random. School-based programmes are rare. Families can choose to play soccer or they may not. to expose a young child to The child is not playing tennis or, does not take it seriously.
So it’s hardly a surprise that so many of the creation stories in professional tennis seem to Consider a slide-doors situation.
Frances Tiafoe is unlikely to be a Grand Slam semi-finalist if the father of his son, an immigrant who came from Sierra Leone in 1890, works as an office maintenance worker at an office park, instead of a tennis club.
Novak Djokovic had the good fortune of meeting Jelena Gencic, one of the top coaches in Serbia, when he was 6 years old and she was giving a tennis clinic on the courts near his parents’ restaurant in Kopaonik, in the Serbian mountains near Montenegro.
Arthur Ashe was on a trip to Cameroon when, in 1971, he saw an 11-year schoolboy with raw talents. to burn. He Call in to his friend Philippe Chatrier at France’s tennis federation and told him he best come have a look. Yannick was Noah. He is the last Frenchman. to The French Open is the most prestigious tennis tournament in the world.
Like the rest, Alcaraz’s preternatural gifts and skills played the biggest role in his good fortune. The moment he had the opportunity to He was impressed, but luck came first. to deliver an opportunity.
This is the beginning of the story. Alcaraz’s grandfather’s decision decades ago to Tennis courts and swimming pools were built at the hunting club of El Palmar in a Murcia suburb. The cost would have been lower to You can use any hardcourt, but Spanish players prefer the red clay. You’re right, Grandpa Alcaraz (another Carlos) made sure to Include the courts involved in development.
Then flash back to It was a decade ago. López Rueda is the tennis-mad chief executive of Postres Reina, which is based in Caravaca de la Cruz. But López Rueda doesn’t just like tennis; he likes to Tennis on Red Clay He The person who lives with the Alcaraz clan, and the best and most accessible clay courts for him are at a club in El Palmar, so he plays there, said Jose Lag, a longtime Postres Reina executive and an Alcaraz family friend, who spoke on behalf of his boss, López Rueda.
At the club he became friendly with Alcaraz’s father and played as the doubles partner of his uncle. Also, López Rueda’s son, who is three years older than AlcarazKiko Navarra, the same coach who was always raving Carlito’s talents, was also the manager of the team. One day López Rueda agreed to It was a unique experience to watch this boy playing. Carlito had everything, but his family’s resources were limited. His mother and father were busy with the child and the younger siblings.
López Rueda agreed to The family borrows 2,000 Euros to You can travel to any destination by using the following: to He started a game, then played in a competition. to think bigger and decided to Encourage his business to help this young boy, who can already beat taller and stronger competitors.
Postres Reina had long supported local basketball and soccer teams, but tennis was López Rueda’s favorite sport and the company had never sponsored an individual athlete. Alcaraz He was the first to display the logo on his shirts.
The company’s support, which lasted through Alcaraz’s early teenage years, allowed him to Continue reading to You can access this page by clicking here. to The best coach in the region to Travel throughout Europe to Take part in tournaments that are the most competitive.
“It was done not as a marketing interest,” Lag is a phrase. “It was only to help him. We never thought he would be No. 1.”
Seeing Alcaraz’s success, IMG, the sports and entertainment conglomerate, signed him at age 13, providing even more access, notably to Former world number 1 Juan Carlos Asenjo is now the coach of his former team. Juan Carlos Ferrero.
It is possible that Alcaraz would have eventually become a top player had López Rueda never seen him. Spain’s tennis federation, which has one of the world’s best talent development pipelines, probably would have caught wind of him before too long.
Max Eisenbud said the main ingredient in a tennis success is having a family that will support you. to take a long-term view toward a child’s success.
“That is the secret recipe,” Eisenbud stated this in a recent conversation, although he did acknowledge that financial aid for families who need it is certainly helpful.
If a player is developing as rapidly as AlcarazFrom outside the Top 100 in May 2020 to No. Each detail in his growth can be traced back to the end result 16 months after.
Alcaraz’s peers have watched in awe as he has raised his level of play with each tournament, in an era when the constant spotlight tortures so many of them. When Alcaraz’s first months challenging the top rungs of the tour, Alexander Zverev marveled at his ability to Enjoy the Play “simply for the joy.”
Alcaraz But no matter what they saw, people were getting used to the ever more raucous and pressure-filled environments took some time but he learned fast. Nadal’s humiliation in Madrid, two years earlier, helped him but his mindset never changed.
“I always wanted to play in the great stadiums,” “He said.” And it has seemed like he really did.
Tennis is a lot of fun to AlcarazFrom his first Grand Slam win on the backcourt at the Australian Open, in February 2021. to His backtoIn 2022, Nadal will be able to win back-to-back against Djokovic and Nadal at the Madrid Open. to Michelle Obama sat in the first row of his U.S. Open semifinal against Tiafoe last September, which was played in front of 23,000 people. to Two days later, he won the championships.
What could possibly have happened? Allen Fox, a Division I champion and a 1965 Wimbledon quarterfinalist who later became one of the game’s leading sports psychologists, used the term that professionals use when there is no rational explanation. He described Alcaraz Both a “genius” The. “genetic freak.”
“The only way he loses is when he is missing,” Fox Said “He just plays his same high-risk game, and never takes his foot off the accelerator.”
