Berrettini on how Alcaraz shifted mentality away from Big Four due to meteoric rise: "It’s like maybe we can do it as well"

Matteo Berrettini was impressed in the way Alcaraz was able to prove himself against members of the big three showing other players that it's very possible.

Carlos Alcaraz made a name for himself early this year when he won the Rio Open on clay. He was able to beat Berrettini along the way which left an impression on the Italian and he found inspiration in what he would do about two months later. Alcaraz was playing in Madrid with the Miami Masters already in his pocket and he bested Nadal and Djokovic back-to-back to advance to the final. He won that event but it showed other players that the big three members are beatable.

On Alcaraz, Berrettini had this to say:

“I remember playing him in Australia at the beginning of the year and I played him in Rio as well, and I felt he is a great player but what he did is still impressive for his age. The physicality he already has and everything, also mentally it’s not easy to deal with everything that he dealt with, so it’s impressive.”

He continued:

“At the same time we know that tennis it’s really tough, but it’s not impossible, we all know we can play our best tennis, I have to say it was a weird year with Novak not playing most of the slams, it was kind of a little weird. But Carlos deserves the world No.1 and I think everybody now is like, ok , he did it, yeah maybe it changed (our mentality) a little bit, it’s like maybe we can do it as well."