Billie Jean King in bold Alcaraz claim: "Going to be the greatest ever unless he gets hurt"

Former world number one America’s Billie Jean King has backed the young Spanish tennis star to become the ‘greatest ever’ in the history of sport.

The 20-year-old is now the talk of the town after winning his maiden Wimbledon title last month in London after a five-set thrilling final against the current world number two Serbia’s Novak Djokovic with a score of 1–6, 7–6(8–6), 6–1, 3–6, 6–4.

King was quoted in a report recently where she heaped praise on Alcaraz and believes that he can become the greatest, but only if he manages to stay fit.

"The men have been totally spooled with Federer and Nadal and Djokovic,” she said. “Djokovic is probably going to end up as the greatest (of those three) as I think he is going to keep winning Grand Slams.

"Then you have Alcaraz, who I adore. I first saw him when he was 18 and I said, I will say now, he is going to be the greatest ever, unless he gets hurt. He has brought the drop shot back and in the 1980s it used to drive me crazy that no one would use the drop shot. Bring them in... they are on the baseline.

"Every generation gets better. I hate it when old players say they could win now, but are you kidding, we wouldn't get a point. My mother always said 'keep moving or it's over' and she was right.”

Alcaraz will now turn his attention to defending his crown at the upcoming US Open 2023. He won the title last year — which was his first Grand Slam — after beating Norway’s Casper Ruud in the final with a score of 6–4, 2–6, 7–6(7–1), 6–3.

He will begin his 2023 campaign with the first-round encounter against Germany’s Dominik Koepfer on Tuesday.