Reuters
Tennis – ATP Masters 1000 – Madrid Open – Caja Magica, Madrid, Spain – May 5, 2021 Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz Garfia in action during his round of 32 match against Spain’s Rafael Nadal REUTERS/Sergio Perez
Reuters
Tennis – ATP Masters 1000 – Madrid Open – Caja Magica, Madrid, Spain – May 5, 2021 Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz Garfia in action during his round of 32 match against Spain’s Rafael Nadal REUTERS/Sergio Perez
Ace tennis coach and mentor Patrick Mouratoglou has opened up on how he came to turn hugely promising Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz into a left-handed player.
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In a post on his official Twitter page, Serena Williams? longtime coach said that he first came across a photograph of the rising Spaniard, and what struck him about it was the uncanny similarity of his shot-making style with Rafael Nadal. It was then that he thought of turning Alcaraz into a left-handed player just to see if his hunch about him was right.
He even shared the image of the 18-year-old, which put the idea into his head of turning him into the next Rafael Nadal.?In the photograph, Alcaraz is seen loading himself into a shot just like the ?King of Clay? would.
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Mouratoglou says he wanted an affirmation that his hunch about Carlos Alcaraz was right
Nicknamed ?The Coach,? Mouratoglou tagged the image with a post saying, ?When I saw that photo of Carlos Alcaraz, I immediately thought of someone and I decided to turn him into a lefty to make sure that I was seeing well??
When I saw that photo of Carlos Alcaraz, I immediately thought of someone and I decided to turn him into a lefty to make sure that I was seeing well…. pic.twitter.com/NRZVAJ606E
— Patrick Mouratoglou (@pmouratoglou) June 30, 2021
Alcaraz will play Daniil Medvedev for a place in Wimbledon R3 today
Currently ranked 75th in singles, the Murcia-born Alcaraz, opened his Wimbledon campaign with a grueling five-set win over Yasutaka Uchiyama of Japan.?In a see-saw affair, the Spaniard bossed the early exchanges with his heavy groundstrokes and coasted to a 6-3 win in the opening set.
However, the Japanese took Alcaraz to a tiebreak in the second and prevailed 7-6 (7-4) to set up an interesting third set.?But it was the Spaniard who had the measure of Uchiyama in the third as he outclassed the Japanese to win it 6-2.
However, showing the tenacity of a seasoned professional, the Japanese fought back brilliantly in the fourth set, winning it by a comfortable 6-3 margin.
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Reuters
Tennis – ATP Masters 1000 – Madrid Open – Caja Magica, Madrid, Spain – May 5, 2021 Spain’s Rafael Nadal and Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz Garfia after their round of 32 match REUTERS/Sergio Perez
With all to play for in the decider, Alcaraz got himself a decisive break of serve and held on to his advantage to prevail 6-3, 6-7 (4-7), 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 in the end.
The young Spaniard will play Russian World No. 2 Daniil Medvedev later on Thursday for a place in the third round.
Despite going down to his idol at the Barcelona Open, Alcaraz had his fanboy moment on his birthday as he posed with Nadal and even had a birthday cake in the bargain.
