Tennis news: Djokovic praises Alcaraz, Chris Eubanks climbs

All hail, King Carlos! Surely by now, we all must face the reality that this is Carlos Alcaraz’s world and we are simply lucky enough to be living at the same time he is. It appears that Novak Djokovic knows it as well.

Following Alcaraz’s defeat of Djokovic at Wimbledon on Sunday in fice set 1-6 7-6(6) 6-1 3-6 6-4, the Serbian said some things he’s likely never said about another player. In fact, I can pretty much guarantee it.

Per the ATP’s official site, when Djokovic was asked about the match (of course, duh!) and about how good Alcaraz can be. To which Djokovic replied, “I haven’t played a player like him ever, to be honest. Roger (Federer) and Rafa (Nadal) have their own obvious strengths and weaknesses. Carlos is a very complete player.”

Novak Djokovic: Carlos Alcaraz is a player unlike he’s ever seen

If I am parsing what Djokovic said correctly, he said that Carlos Alcaraz can be the best player that ever lived and already has a game that could match any recent greats. It did seem like we were watching a great movie on Sunday in the men’s Wimbledon final. There was no true villain but Alcaraz certainly looks to be the hero of tennis.

And tennis needs Carlos Alcaraz. We are leaving a golden era of tennis with players like Djokovic, Nadal, Federer, and Andy Murray. There is a decade-long gap between that group and the next group looks good. Alcaraz will fight for Grand Slams with players like Jannik Sinner, Holger Rune, and Casper Ruud. But for this to be great for the sport, Carlos Alcaraz needs a little help because right now he looks better than not just anyone his age, but anyone who has ever picked up a racket.

Chris Eubanks moves up the rankings

In other good news for tennis, American Chris Eubanks had a good showing at Wimbledon and for it moved up to number 31 on the ATP tour. This is good news for the sport because having an American do well can bring more eyes to TV and streaming screens. But an American like Eubanks or Frances Tiafoe who are not only good players but have good stories too is even better.

Now let’s hope Eubanks translates what he did at Wimbledon to the US Open and we should all be winners. But we know who is going to win in New York already. This is Carlos Alcaraz’s world after all.