“Right now Alcaraz is everyone’s goal”

Jimmy Connors, one of the great legends in the history of tennis, wanted to give Carlos Alcaraz some advice facing the defense that the Murcian is making of his status as number one in the world, a milestone he reached after his victory at the US Open.

In statements on his podcast “Advantage Connors” collected by the Sportskeeda portal, ‘Jimbo’ did not hesitate to warn Alcaraz that he is now the target and the rival to beat for the rest of the tennis players. “Right now Alcaraz has a target on his back, he has won the US Open, he has had a great year and he is number one in the world. He has to realize that he is everyone’s target and he must soon notice it. It has to start winning when it’s at 70%, even if you don’t like the surface or it’s too slow.

Connors also stressed that in today’s tennis, young people only care about shining in the Grand Slams instead of doing it in the rest of the tournaments. “In my time, each game counted and it was important to win titles against other great tennis players against whom we competed. However now the emphasis is only on the Grand Slams. Today many boys think what they have achieved when they have reached the semifinals or the final of a Grand Slam”.

Finally Connors considers the changes that can occur in tennis and believes that the next great tennis star will have to have the power of current tennis players and the attitude of the old school. “It’s going to be interesting to see where tennis is going to go now. It has changed a lot since my time and the way of playing. I don’t know if they will be able to play with more power. The next great tennis player will be a hybrid tennis player, showing the power of today’s tennis but also a bit more of an old-school attitude to resemble Federer and Djokovic.”