"He said that? That is quite a compliment": Federer responds to Alcaraz being called a sick combination of Big Three by his ex coach

Former world number one Roger Federer believes that young Carlos Alcaraz has ‘a lot to live up to’ after his coach called him a ‘sick combination’ of the Big Three.

The 20-year-old is the top-seeded player in Wimbledon 2023 and has already won a Grand Slam back in September last year after beating Norway’s Casper Ruud in the final with a score of 6–4, 2–6, 7–6, 6–3.

Recently, Alcaraz’s coach called him a ‘sick combination’ of Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic and claimed that no one has seen anything like him before.

“He is positive and he is something we haven’t seen so far — some sort of a sick combination of Djokovic, Federer and Nadal,” he said.

In response to that, the 20-time Grand Slam winner believes that it was a big ‘compliment’ for the youngster who is already doing ‘incredible things’.

“He [coach] said that? That is quite a compliment,” said the 41-year-old. “It's a lot to live up to. I think Carlos at his young age, the age that he is right now, he's doing incredible things.”

Federer further went on to predict that the current world number one is destined to achieve ‘incredible things’ because of his winning mindset.

"I always don't like to put too much pressure on younger players, especially like, 'He's going to do this.',” he said. “But he's the type of player who says, 'Well, I'm coming to Wimbledon, I'm coming to win. I'm coming to Paris, I'm coming to win.' So he's putting that pressure on his own which is great.

"And that's why I can then also say, I think he will achieve incredible things in the future. Which means multiple Slams, many years as hopefully as the World No. 1.”

Alcaraz will face France’s Alexandre Muller in the second-round clash at Wimbledon on Friday.