Almost exactly two years ago, ATPTour.com spoke to Andy Murray about tennis’ future stars. Who would be the next new World No. 1 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings?
“Of the current ones, Medvedev would be the guy I would expect to get there first. I think maybe he will need to be a little bit more consistent on the clay to get there, but I think he’s got a good chance,” Murray said at the time. “From the young, young ones, I think [Carlos] Alcaraz is really, really good. I think he’s got a good chance at it.”
The Scot’s words proved prophetic. Just a few weeks later, Medvedev won his first major at the US Open and in February 2022 became the first World No. 1 since the start of the Big Four’s reign. Medvedev was No. 2 at the time of Murray’s declaration, so that was not far-fetched.
However, Alcaraz had not yet cracked the world’s Top 50 and had less than a month earlier claimed his maiden ATP Tour title in Umag. Murray last week told ATPTour.com that he had good reason to believe in the Spaniard. The Scot had spoken to his coach, Juan Carlos Ferrero.
Murray admittedly did not know Alcaraz “really well” and had not seen much of him on the practice court or in the gym. He recalled: “I asked Ferrero, ‘Does he love tennis? Does he work hard?”
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During the conversation between the two former World No. 1s, Ferrero explained to Murray that Alcaraz is “really good with that stuff. Like he’s brilliant, he’s really into it”.
“That was sort of enough for me having seen his game and then hearing from his coach and someone who knows what hard work is like that he was going to go on potentially to have a great career,” Murray said.
The 46-time tour-level champion has faced Alcaraz in two Lexus ATP Head2Head meetings, both of which came in 2021. They split those clashes.
The world has seen the technical skill that the Spaniard brings to the court, from his ferocious forehand to delicate drop shot and movement around the court. But Murray feels that something else in the 20-year-old’s game sticks out the most.
“The thing that I love about watching him is just the freedom that he plays with and part of that is youth I think. I just hope he doesn’t lose that,” Murray said. “That’s the one thing I would love to just see him continue to play that sort of style of tennis that he plays with. The drop shots or serve-volleys. Sometimes it looks a little bit Kamikaze, but he just is totally instinctive. And I love that.”
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Murray was in the Centre Court crowd to watch this year’s Wimbledon final between Alcaraz and Novak Djokovic. The Spaniard won a memorable five-setter to claim his first trophy at The Championships.
“I thought that the last few sets were really good. It was very hard conditions that day. I don’t know on the TV how easy it was to see but it was really windy, but it wasn’t like consistent wind. It was blustery and lots of gusts,” Murray said. “The first couple of sets, tennis-wise, I didn’t think were amazing. But I thought the last few sets considering how hard it was, there was some brilliant, brilliant stuff in there and I really enjoyed the final.”
It was the first time Murray had sat and watched a full match from the stands “for a long time”.
“I learned a lot from it and could have gone either way. Novak had his chance at the beginning of the fifth set,” Murray said. “But Alcaraz did incredibly well to win that particularly after the first set because it was really quick. Novak looked great, really comfortable. He did really well to win it.
“There was one point right at the end of the second set where Novak missed a couple of backhands in a row. I think it was on the set point and then the point straight afterwards, which maybe changed things a little bit. It would have been hard to come back from to sets down. But yeah, it was a good match.”