Nick Kyrgios has hit out at Boris Becker after the German claimed Carlos Alcaraz hasn’t “developed” his game. Alcaraz, 20, won the second Grand Slam title of his career when he defeated Novak Djokovic in the Wimbledon final in July but has suffered a downturn in fortunes in recent months.
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Alcaraz became a Grand Slam champion when he lifted the US Open trophy last year at the age of 19. The Spaniard, who spent part of this year at No 1 in the world rankings, backed that up by getting the better of Djokovic at the All England Club as he illustrated his prodigious talents on a grass court.
But he exited this year’s US Open after losing to Daniil Medvedev in the semi-finals, before yielding to Jannik Sinner at the same stage of the China Open a few weeks later. And his season ended in misery when he was defeated by Djokovic in the last four of the ATP Finals earlier this month.
Becker recently appeared on Eurosport Germany's Das Gelbe vom Ball podcast to give his thoughts on a whole host of tennis issues. And discussing Alcaraz’s recent struggles, he explained: “Duelling with Djokovic, becoming No 1 in the world and winning Wimbledon for the first time - maintaining this level is the most difficult thing in tennis. Anyone can have a good tournament or a good year from time to time, but maintaining that level over the years is the real challenge.
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“My favourite saying in this context is, ‘the locker room never sleeps’. It means that the other players have realised how you have to play against Alcaraz to have a chance against him. That's what happened. Other players have developed and Alcaraz hasn't.”
Becker may have felt he was the perfect person to pass judgement on Alcaraz. After all, the former star won Wimbledon at the age of 17, before getting his hands on another five Grand Slam titles during his illustrious career. But Kyrgios was clearly agitated by the 56-year-old’s remarks as he took to X (formerly Twitter) and posted: “Annddddddd Alcaraz would DESTROY Becker….. NEXT.”
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Alcaraz will be desperate to build on his Wimbledon success when the ATP Tour resumes in January. And he may be focused on improving his indoor game after admitting he wasn’t up to Djokovic’s level following their latest showdown at the ATP Finals.
“I feel like I am not in his level in indoor court obviously,” the blockbuster star said. “I've played great matches in Wimbledon, in Cincinnati, in Roland Garros. I felt in that match that I'm in the level. Obviously, he has more experience than me playing in these tournaments, in these courts.”