Novak Djokovic, in perfect Spanish, confessed that his son’s idol is no longer Nadal but…, Alcaraz

Novak Djokovicthe number 1 in the racket world, lived a conflictive January in Australia, when he was deported after entering the oceanic country without being vaccinated against the coronavirus. A few weeks later, the Serbian broke the silence (on the BBC), gave his point of view on the nightmare he lived in Melbourne and, a little more relaxed, said that it was difficult for him to watch the final of the first Grand Slam of the season because lived an almost unreal situation in his house and with his son, Stefan.

“It was very difficult for me to see her [Rafael Nadal venció a Daniil Medvedev en cinco sets]. I was very neutral, I wasn’t going to encourage anyone because I wanted so much to be there. But I was encouraged by various circumstances. My wife [Jelena] I was cheering for Medvedev, my son Stefan cheering for Rafa and for every point he made, he was jumping around,” Nole said. But she went further: she revealed her son’s great admiration for Nadal: “He told me that he wanted very much to get a photo with Rafa.” But on the circuit almost everything happens very quickly and, today, little Djokovic already has a new idol…, Carlos Alcarazthe wonder boy of the tour (9th in the world, just 18 years old).

During his stay in Madrid to compete in the Masters 1000 in the Spanish capital, Djokovic reported that Stefan now focuses his gaze much more on Alcaraz than on Nadal. Invited to the contest’s Twitch channel and in (almost) perfect Spanish, Djokovic expressed: “Rafa knows that my son has him as an idol…, although Alcaraz does too. The novelty in recent months is that for my son Nadal is not number 1 and Alcaraz is. He changed, he changed his favorite player.”

Smiling and paternal, Nole (who this week shared practices with Alcaraz) expanded: “My son likes the players a lot. He imitates them on the court when he plays, he imitates Rafa with his forehand and all that, his emotions. For me it is very interesting. It’s nice because obviously Nadal and I have shared many years in the sport, but we are aware of our roles in the sport and how important it is to motivate and inspire young people, to play and give a little hope”.

Triple champion in the Madrid tournament (2011, 2016 and 2019), Djokovic will debut this Tuesday in the second round of the tournament against Gael Monfils (France), who in the first round beat the Spanish Carlos Gimeno Valero 6-3 and 6-0, invited by the organization.

Alcaraz will also appear this Tuesday at the Mutua Madrid Open: as the seventh seed, he will face Nikoloz Basilashvili, from Georgia.

the porteño Diego Schwartzman got the 20th win of the season. The current number 15 in the world ranking beat Frenchman Benoit Paire (62nd; he had passed the Qualy beating Federico Coria) by 6-2, 6-7 (5-7) and 6-1, in 2h06m.

In the second round, Peque, trained by Alejandro Fabbri and Juan Ignacio Chela, will face the winner of the Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov (20th) and the American Maxime Cressy (64th).

Schwartzman is the only Argentine standing in the tournament: apart from Coria, Federico Delbonis he said goodbye in the first round of the main draw (6-3 and 6-4 against the British Daniel Evans).