Carlos Alcaraz is poised to achieve greatness, according to his coach Juan Carlos Ferrero who knows better than most what his compatriot is capable of.
Alcaraz shot to prominence in 2022 having been tipped for bis success in late 2021 with an impressive run to the US Open quarterfinals.
Few could have predicted his breakout season would go quite as well as it did with Alcaraz winning a pair of Masters titles and claiming the US Open title to propel himself to a year-end No 1 achievement.
He was the youngest player to end a season on top of the tree but his reaction to that breakout season has been telling.
Rather thank bask in the glory of a handful of stunning achievements, Alcaraz has put his nose to the grindstone and sought yet more in a fashion modelled after the insatiable big three.
With their model to follow, there are some who feel that Alcaraz could even surpass the big three, especially if his generation fails to produce a big title rival.
Ferrero wouldn't lay out precisely what Alcaraz will set out out to do, perhaps out of caution or simply because the Spaniard is an audacious dreamer.
"I think he's ready to try to do big things in tennis. I don't know if it's going to be this tournament, but of course I think he's ready," Ferrero told reporters at Roland Garros.
"He dreams very big about what he can do, so I think it's one of the most important things that he believes in himself and he believes he can go to the court and win against everybody."
Ferrero says that while he has been impressed by the level of play Carlos Alcaraz has produced it doesn't come as a great surprise.
"I'm impressed obviously about his level, but I'm with him now for almost five years so let's say I know the level he's able to play," Ferrero said.
"The most impressive things he shows in the most important moments of the tournament. and the most impressive for me is that he is showing his best level against the best.
"The way he's playing, he's able to make any shots on the court. If you ask him to go to the net on match point, he's able to do it. If I ask to return and go to the net, he's able to do it and make the drop shot.
"Physically he's 100 per cent. He's ready for the tournament."
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