has opened up on the remorse of by no means taking part in . The world No 2 turned professional and made his ATP debut after the Swiss star began struggling together with his career-ending knee harm and so they solely appeared on the identical match twice. With Federer now retired, Alcaraz is hoping to search out one other technique to face off on the tennis courtroom as he shared his plan.
Whereas Alcaraz has lengthy been likened to countryman and sees the 36-year-old as certainly one of his idols, childhood movies of the world No 2 present him admitting that Federer was his inspiration rising up. The 20-year-old has already gotten the prospect to each play and defeat Nadal and however missed out on a showdown with their Huge Three rival.
Alcaraz and Federer by no means crossed paths on the tennis courtroom, with the 10-time title winner making his ATP debut in February 2020, simply weeks after the Swiss star misplaced his Australian Open semi-final whereas hampered by a knee harm. Federer then didn't play once more till March 2021, competing in simply 5 occasions earlier than present process surgical procedure and ultimately retiring finally yr’s Laver Cup.
It meant that the current Madrid champion was unable to face him in a aggressive match, as they solely appeared in the identical draw twice - the French Open and Wimbledon in 2021. And Alcaraz has now opened up on the remorse, telling France TV: “That thorn caught in me for not having the ability to play towards Roger.
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“It's a sport that I'd have liked to play and through which I'd have loved lots, however it couldn't have been.” However the former world No 1 already has a plan to play Federer in a non-competitive setting, proposing an exhibition match sooner or later.
“Let's hope we do some exhibition in the future and that I can share the courtroom with him, it might be one thing unimaginable,” he added. And the proficient younger Spaniard has already confirmed himself to be such a star that Federer
“After all, it's disappointing by no means to have performed towards him,” he mentioned throughout his final hurrah on the Laver Cup in September. The match got here days after Alcaraz made historical past by changing into the youngest-ever ATP world No 1 due to his maiden Grand Slam victory on the US Open.
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Federer added: “I intently adopted what he did on the US Open and the entire yr. It was incredible, his sport is sensible and I all the time mentioned that there shall be new superstars in tennis. He's certainly one of them. Generally individuals have a behavior of not believing it, like when Pete and Andre left. They mentioned: ‘What are we going to have now?’ Effectively, it was Novak, Rafa, myself, Murray, Stan.”
There had been studies that Federer and his agent Tony Godsick have been eager to get Alcaraz on board for final yr’s Laver Cup however it by no means materialised, with the Spaniard occurring to play simply 4 occasions after successful the US Open - the Davis Cup group stage, the Astana Open, the Swiss Indoors Basel and the Paris Masters, the place he received injured and ended his season.