Rafael Nadal hands the baton to Carlos Alcaraz | ATP Tour

Davis Cup

Rafa hands the witness to Alcaraz

The Murcian values ​​Nadal’s words in his farewell

November 20, 2024

“We have achieved many beautiful things together and now it is your turn to continue achieving them.”

Looking at his teammates from center court, Rafael Nadal’s most sincere words at his farewell ceremony this Tuesday were directed at the new generation of great talents. And among all of them there is a recipient, who will try to preserve and extend his legacy: Carlos Alcaraz.

At 21 years old, the Murcian has been equaling many of the precocity marks of his childhood idol. Without going any further, you already know what it’s like to be No. 1 in the PIF ATP Rankings, win four Grand Slam titles or win an Olympic medal.

“For the young people who come from behind us, who have many years ahead of us, it has been fortunate to be able to live through the era of Rafa, Federer and Djokovic, although [Novak] It still continues… that fight between those three gladiators, players who are not from this planet,” Alcaraz confessed.

“But, at the same time, I am also going to say that [Rafa] It has left many people with the illusion of seeing what is going to happen and, in a way, if those of us who are there, the young people, those of us who come from behind do not reach that level, it will be like a frustration or a disappointment for the world of tennis,” the current world No. 3 continued his reflection.

Alcaraz has always avoided any type of comparison, although journalistic literature and the enthusiasm of tennis fans have inevitably resorted on multiple occasions to parallels with Nadal.

“I’m going to try not to take it like that: simply give my best level day by day,” he confessed. “As Rafa said, he left his career happy and satisfied knowing that he gave everything from the first to the last day of his career, and that is what I am going to try to do. I will try to give my best, be the best person and player I can day by day, tournament by tournament and year by year.”

Alcaraz has been able to experience Nadal’s last stage on the ATP Tour. It hasn’t been as long as he would have liked, but at the 2021 Australian Open he had the opportunity to train for the first time with his compatriot and a few months later at the Mutua Madrid Open he was able to celebrate his 18th birthday by competing head to head for first time.

The Lexus ATP Head2Head has a total of three matches, all in ATP Masters 1000 territory in Madrid (2021, 2022) and Indian Wells (2022). But if there is a special chapter between the two, it was the one they starred in at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, sharing the same side of the court in the doubles event.

“I am fortunate to have him close, to have played doubles with him, to have trained with him, to have shared a team in the Davis Cup and a locker room in individual tournaments—less than I would like—I wish the circuit had arrived sooner,” he said.

Beyond his desire, destiny has wanted it this way and on the night of Tuesday, November 19, Nadal definitively handed over his crown and Alcaraz accepted the baton. Of course, with a small nuance: “We will see at the end of my career, even if it is with half of what he has done, I would be more than happy. I’m going to try to make people enjoy it, leave a good legacy day by day and it’s going to be very difficult to follow what these beasts have done.”