Ivan Ljubicic, the former coach of the Swiss tennis star Roger Federer, has stated that Carlos Alcaraz has the qualities of the Big Three: Roder Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic; however, the 44-year-old has some concerns over the young Spanish player.
“In that match against Novak, he wasn’t as creative and fluid as he usually is," Ljubicic told Sport Klub.
However, he pointed out that Alcaraz brought "another dimension" to tennis, "a dimension young players lacked in the last 10-20 years".
"He is positive, and he is something we haven’t seen so far — some sort of ‘sick’ combination of Djokovic, Federer and Nadal. I just hope that his body holds up because he is putting crazy demands on his body at this moment,” the coach said.
During the interview, Ljubicic also weighed in on the Greatest of all time (GOAT) debate in tennis that usually surrounds the Big Three and said that Novak would become the undisputed GOAT if he won a few more slams.
“I feel that Novak is the most successful already, but the word ‘greatest’ implies subjectivity and personal preference. I think that’s good, to be honest — everybody has a preferred GOAT, and let the discussion begin.
"If Novak wins a few more Slams — which seems likely at this point — then the debate becomes meaningless. If Novak ends up having five to ten more than the others, we won’t have conversations like this anymore,” said Ljubicic.
It must be noted that Djokovic became the first player in men’s tennis history to have won 23 Grand Slams after claiming the Roland Garros on June 11 in Paris.
The Serb defeated Casper Ruud 7-6, 6-3, 7-5 in the final of the French Open.
He overtook Rafael Nadal, who has 22 Grand Slams. Djokovic’s 23 Grand Slam titles consist of 10x Australian Open, 7x Wimbledon, 3x US Open and 3x Roland Garros.
Djokovic won the French Open for the third time and became the oldest winner in the tournament’s history at 36 years and 20 days. He is also the only player in men’s history to win all four majors on at least three occasions.