(Provided by Tennis World USA)
Alex Corretja thinks Rafael Nadal’s French Open withdrawal will put much bigger pressure on Carlos Alcaraz but noted he believes the 20-year-old will cope well with that situation. On Thursday, Nadal announced his French Open withdrawal in a special press conference held in Manacor.
Now that Nadal is officially out of the French Open, Alcaraz and Novak Djokovic are widely considered the two top favorites to win it all at Roland Garros. Also now that there is no Nadal at Roland Garros, all the attention from the Spanish tennis community will be on Alcaraz.
Since Nadal is planning to retire in 2024, the talks about Alcaraz being Nadal’s successor will only intensify in the upcoming months.
Corretja on how Nadal’s withdrawal impacts Alcaraz at the French Open
“It will definitely have an impact on Alcaraz, for sure.
All eyes will be on him and on Novak and all the other potential favorites but being Spanish and knowing that Rafa is not going to be there, all the attention is going to be on him on the men’s side. Knowing Alcaraz, he will be okay to deal with that, I’m sure.
He loves that, which is very amazing and very impressive, but he will definitely need to cope with all the attention and everyone asking him about being the favorite and the next Spanish winner, etc. His whole team need to work with Carlos even more, just taking all the pressure off him.
Losing in Rome was the best thing that could have happened to him because he will have lost a bit of expectation and relaxed a little bit. His energy is going to be so high for Roland-Garros. When he starts the tournament, he does not need to think anymore about this and can focus only on himself,” Corretja told Eurosport.
Last year, Alcaraz entered the French Open hoping to become a Grand Slam champion. In the end, Alcaraz reached the quarterfinal before losing to Alexander Zverev. But this year, Alcaraz is an even better player and there is no doubt that he will have his eyes set on winning his second Grand Slam at Roland Garros.
