Tennis News: Carlos Alcaraz, Andy Roddick and Emma Raducanu

Since Carlos Alcaraz defeated Novak Djokovic in the Wimbledon final in July, the Spaniard entered seven tournaments and did not win a single one. In his seven tournaments leading up to Wimbledon, Carlos Alcaraz won four of them. He simply seemed to run out of gas at the end of the year.

At the end of 2022, Alcaraz was not winning tournaments either, but that was due to an injury instead of simply poorer play. As Jannik Sinner seems to be catching up to Alcaraz and is only 22 years old himself, Alcaraz might not be the alpha of under-25 tennis players in 2024. The Spaniard could do with a great start to the year.

Alcaraz hasn’t been a threat at the first Grand Slam of the season, the Australian Open, yet in his career. He missed the 2023 version, but in 2021 he only reached the second round and only reached the third round in 2022. But in 2024, former ATP No. 1 Andy Roddick thinks Carlos Alcaraz has a very good chance of dethroning Djokovic in Australia.

Carlos Alcaraz might be a real threat at the Australian Open

According to what Roddick said on Betway recently, “People forget (Alcaraz) didn’t play Australia last year because of injury, so he has no points to defend until February. Australia will be a very good surface for him, especially if it gets hot down there. I’m curious to see how that heavy ball he hits, if it gets really warm, is going to jump off that surface.”

Roddick also rightfully praised Jannik Sinner saying, “He’s just becoming more and more of a complete player with every month that passes, and closing out tournament wins against big players.” Sinner has defeated Djokovic twice in the last two weeks and few players ever can say that. No player has more momentum heading into 2024 than Sinner.

One player who completely lacks any momentum is Emma Raducanu. The Brit won the US Open in 2021 but has struggled with form and injuries for most of the last two years. In 2023, Raducanu only had a record of 5-5 and did not play after bouncing out of the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart in April in her match of the tournament.

In an interview with The Telegraph, though, former Serena and Venus Williams coach, Rick Macci, thinks he can fix Raducanu. Macci said, “…you’ve got to be bulletproof and I can help her with that.” Maybe Macci is just trying to find work, but that would seem odd. Still, Raducanu is still only 21 years old and is clearly capable of greatness. Maybe Macci can actually help.