Tennis News: Carlos Alcaraz, Naomi Osaka and Patrick Mouratoglou

Pat Cash knows something about winning on grass courts. He won Wimbledon in 1987 and reached at least the quarterfinals three other times. When he sees the potential in another player for that player to be great on grass courts, Cash knows what he speaks. Recently, Cash had some high praise for Carlos Alcaraz.

In fact, not just a bit of praise, but the highest Cash could give. Speaking on Sky Sports Tennis, Cash said that Alcaraz is "almost...the best player I have ever seen on grass at his best." There is a bit to dissect there because Cash does say "almost" and "at his best," but that is still just a short jump to saying the Spaniard is the best player on grass ever.

Alcaraz has won back-to-back Wimbledon titles, and he is only 21 years old, but it's still too soon to call him the "greatest" grass-court player ever. Roger Federer won eight Wimbledon titles and had a record of 192-29 on grass. Alcaraz's winning percentage is a couple of points higher - 89 to 87 - and the Spaniard is 24-3 on grass, but he has a slim margin to have a better winning percentage than Federer and a lot more tennis still to be played.

Pat Cash gives Carlos Alcaraz some high praise and Patrick Mouratoglou is excited about Naomi Osaka

Another champion, Naomi Osaka, made her comeback in 2024, but she had mixed results. She didn't make it past the second round of any Grand Slam event, and her best showing at a Masters 1000 was reaching the fourth round. She also finished the year with an injury.

Playing Coco Gauff at the China Open, Osaka injured her back. She withdrew from two tournaments in Japan after the injury, and likely her next time playing will be at the Australian Open. The 27-year-old has won that major twice, the last time being in 2021.

She has also hired a new coach, Patrick Mouratoglou. The coach spoke before an Ultimate Tennis Showdown event recently and said he hopes that Osaka can play at a level at the Australian Open near the beginning of 2025 and be a threat to win at a high level again next year.

He said, "I am excited because I think she plays incredible; she is obviously a champion, won several slams, and has been to number one. I can sense her motivation, a very, very big motivation to come back as high as she can. For a long time, she has not been able to play her best tennis. That is my challenge: to bring her back to her best level and, if possible, even better...you have to believe in it but you don’t know when. That is the next big thing and we will do everything that is possible to perform already Down Under."

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