The Laver Cupsponsored and organized by Roger Federeris the scene of the retirement of the great Swiss player two years ago, in 2022. Federer started an unprecedented era in tennis because he joined later Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic to form the ‘Big Three’two words that sum up the time shared by the three greatest tennis players in history, the three greatest champions of grand slam: Djokovic (24), Nadal (22) and Federer (20).
The Swiss’ farewell coincides with the massive emergence of Carlos Alcaraz, who in 2022 at the age of 19 became the youngest world No. 1 in history after winning the US Openthe first of the four ‘greats’ that the Murcian already has, also a champion Wimbledon (2023, 2024) and Roland Garros (2024).
Alcaraz, now the main heir of the ‘Big Three’ along with the Italian Jannik Sinnerhad the opportunity to compete on the circuit against Nadal and Djokovic, but not with Federer and this is something that the Spanish tennis player regretted more than once because he also wanted to play against him, one of his references .
Admiration and respect are both between Federer and Alcaraz, as the Swiss showed this Tuesday in his words upon arrival in Berlin (Germany), where the 7th edition of the Laver Cup will be held from Friday to Sunday, this time with Alcaraz as leader. of a European team completed by other figures such as Alexander Zverev, Daniel Medvedev, Casper Ruud, Stefanos Tsitsipas and Grigor Dimitrovwhich will cover the absence of Rafa Nadal.
“I barely know Carlos Alcaraz, so I’m excited to see him play for the first time,” Federer told the website of the tournament he will face. Europe including Other parts of the World. “I only trained with him once at Wimbledon when I was a junior. The next day, my coach asked me, ‘Do you want to warm up with him again?’ And I told him: ‘No, it’s fine, I’d rather warm up with your coach, who is from my generation, Juan Carlos Ferrero.’ “I can apologize to Carlos this week,” Federer explained with a laugh.
Based on that comment, it’s clear that Alcaraz already made an impression on Federer in their first meeting, something that other tennis players have experienced when asked about it. Pablo CarrenoFor example, he was impressed the first time he played at Murcian.
“The first time I met Carlos was in O2 Arena in London. I was top-10 and playing in the Masters, he was 14 years old and played in a sub-14 tournament there and, as the same agent brings us, before playing my first match in Dominic Thiem He told me: ‘I have a child here, play with him, play very well.’ sure? Okay, okay. And on center court at the O2 he missed fewer balls than I did. I simply said to myself: ‘Wow, this kid, 14 years old, in this scenario, I don’t know! At 14 years old, I still couldn’t pick up a racket on that court, but he was almost ready to play with Thiem,” Carreño recalled in an interview with MD.
Parallel to his career, Pablo has been a direct witness of the growth and emergence of Carlos Alcaraz, with whom he shares a representation agent, Albert Molinaand training in Villena: Juan Carlos Ferrero He is the Murcian coach and Samuel Lopez teaches in Asturian.
Source: La Verdad
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