Andy Murray: Carlos Alcaraz is a ‘kamikaze’ on the court

A couple of years ago, three-time Grand Slam champion Andy Murray said a young Carlos Alcaraz had a good chance to become the number 1 player in the world. Of course, Murray knows his stuff when it comes to tennis, but he still needs props for predicting what Carlos Alcaraz would become before Alcaraz was even ranked in the top 10.

In a recent interview with the official ATP site, though, Murray had an interesting word to describe Alcaraz’s style of play: “kamikaze.” And Murray obviously did not mean that as a slight. The term kamikaze could be taken as someone who is a bit overly driven but also a bit out of control.

Murray said, “The thing that I love about watching him is the freedom that he plays with, and part of that is youth, I think. I just hope he doesn’t lose that. Sometimes it looks a little bit kamikaze, but he just is totally instinctive. And I love that.”

Andy Murray uses an interesting word to describe Carlos Alcaraz’s playing style

A better way to describe how Carlos Alcaraz plays instead of “kamikaze” would be to borrow another Murray word, “Freedom.” Alcaraz somehow finds a way to keep things loose even in the biggest moments. Almost any other player would have folded in the Wimbledon final after Novak Djokovic won the first set 6-1. Not Alcaraz. In fact, Alcaraz kept his cool through a second-set tie-break and his taking the second set basically changed the future of tennis.

But Carlos Alcaraz is also free to try to hit balls most people wouldn’t get to. One of the reasons he is so difficult to defeat is that he hits the ball so cleanly and with pace on points like these, while at the same time placing the ball in a spot on his opponent’s side that no mortal should be able to do.

Another important aspect is that Alcaraz doesn’t just have immense talent, but he loves to put in the work as well. Murray made a point of asking Alcaraz’s coach, Juan Carlos Ferrero, if the Spaniard loved the sport and Ferrero confirmed that Alcaraz did. If Carlos Alcaraz is going to have a chance to reach Djokovic’s 23 Grand Slam titles, he won’t be able to do that if he gets burned out. Doesn’t sound like that is going to happen with Alcaraz, though.