Roger Federer excited by 'mighty impressive' Carlos Alcaraz despite Shanghai loss, says he has 'an unbelievable future'

Updated 16/10/2023 at 11:48 GMT

Roger Federer stressed there is no need to worry about Carlos Alcaraz's recent results, and is backing the Spaniard to continue competing at the very highest level of the game. The 20-year-old lost his world No.1 ranking after the US Open, and has subsequently been knocked out of the China Open and Shanghai Masters by Jannik Sinner and Grigor Dimitrov respectively.

Alcaraz says he has 'lost a lot of opportunities' to return to No. 1 after Dimitrov loss

Roger Federer is backing Carlos Alcaraz to have an "unbelievable future" in tennis despite his early exit at the Shanghai Masters.

The world No. 2 was beaten in three sets by Grigor Dimitrov in the last 16 in Shanghai and has not won a tournament since Wimbledon in July.

He also recently lost in the semi-finals of the China Open to eventual winner Jannik Sinner.

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Despite this apparent dip in form, Federer says Alcaraz, 20, deserves huge credit for what he has achieved already, and is not worried about his recent defeats.

“Alcaraz is great. He's still young and everything that he has achieved is fantastic, not just on clay or the hard surfaces," said Federer on the ATP Tennis Radio Podcast.

“Winning Wimbledon against Novak [Djokovic] in the final is no joke. He didn't need to really prove that point but that's another super asterisk in his CV. It’s mighty impressive.

“Of course, as it was with Rafa [Nadal], Novak, myself, and [Andy] Murray, we all expect now every generation to produce their best tennis every single week, but it's hard to do that.

“I think Carlos has done as well as he possibly could have so far. And he's going to lose sometimes, like here in Shanghai, but he's doing fantastic.

“He's got a great game and obviously an unbelievable future ahead of him.”

Federer also reflected on this year’s Wimbledon final between Alcaraz and Novak Djokovic in more detail, with the 20-time Grand Slam champion paying tribute to both players.

“The Wimbledon final, I only literally saw a couple of games that day because we are running around with the kids and doing stuff," said Federer.

"Then at one point, like I quickly checked just to say ‘Okay, I saw the Wimbledon final a little bit’, you know?”

“Of course, I was curious. I was checking the scores from time to time, but for me to sit down was just hard. But I was happy that the match was as great as it was, of course. And I love when great stories come out of the game and what Novak and Carlos have done again this year has been incredible.”

Federer’s sentiments on Alcaraz were echoed by Eurosport tennis expert Alex Corretja, who stressed that continuing to perform at the very highest level over such a long season is "impossible."

“Alcaraz's Asian tour is not worrying. I don't give it any importance,” he added.

“Every tournament, every week, every game is a learning experience for Alcaraz, his season is spectacular. For Carlos there will come a time when he will have to select tournaments like Djokovic.

“We are used to times when Nadal, Djokovic and Federer reached the Masters 1000 [events] and won them as if nothing had happened, but it is more normal for him to make a semi-final against Sinner and then be surprised by Dimitrov.

“Maintaining 100 per cent in the 80 matches he plays a year is impossible.”

Alcaraz is set to return at the Swiss Indoors next week.

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