Tennis News: Carlos Alcaraz defends Djokovic and Iga Swiatek doubts Raducanu

Novak Djokovic is not having his best year so far. That is not breaking news. He has yet to even reach the final of a tournament. He has reached the semifinals in two of three events he has entered, which would not be an issue for most mortals. But the Serb is certainly not your common person as more is expected from the 24-time Grand Slam winner.

But is Djokovic done, for all intents and purposes? Is a watered-down version of arguably the greatest player ever going to make fans happen and more importantly, will his current form make Djokovic truly happy? As far as the last part, that is doubtful.

Carlos Alcaraz, though, does not believe anyone should count out Djokovic from winning more events just yet. In a recent conversation with La Vanguardia, Alcaraz was asked about his current form, of course, but questioned about Djokovic. The Serb and the Spaniard have been the greatest of rivals since Alcaraz began his ascension to greatness two years ago.

Carlos Alcaraz stands up for Novak Djokovic and Iga Swiatek beats down Emma Raducanu

Alcaraz said that even now, Djokovic has few perceived weaknesses. The Spaniard said, "Everyone has weak points, Djokovic too although it seems not. The difficult thing is to find them, because they are very small."

As far as being "vulnerable," Alcaraz asserted that Djokovic never truly is. Alcaraz said, "He never is. Now he does not have exceptional results, although they are very good, with Grand Slam or Monte Carlo semifinals. The thing is that we are used to seeing him win everything."

And that is an excellent point by Alcaraz. Many tennis analysts might be asking if the Serb is still capable of winning majors because we are biased by how much and how often Djokovic wins. Some players would be happy constantly reaching the semifinals of events, but with Djokovic, we have learned to expect more.

Speaking of expectations, Iga Swiatek did not think that Emma Raducanu would be able to sustain the kind of intensity Raducanu showed at the beginning of their match in the quarterfinals of the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix. The Pole won the match as she is nearly unbeatable on clay, though she did lose to Elena Rybakina in the semifinals of the event, but the Brit gave Swiatek a tough time in the first set.

Swiatek admitted after the 7-6(2) 6-3 victory in a post-match press conference that while she respects Raducanu, she might have thought that Raducanu could not keep playing the entire match as she did when it first started. The WTA No. 1 is normally open and honest in her answers, though her response about Raducanu was almost brutal.

Swiatek said, "I knew that even though - I mean, she started playing at the beginning pretty loose, like she had nothing to lose, and I totally get that. Sometimes it is like that. But I knew I was kind of questioning if she's going to be able to keep the same intensity throughout the whole match."

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