"I don't think we have seen anyone like him before": Nishikori in high praise for Alcaraz, calls him Nadal with 'more speed'

Japanese tennis player Kei Nishikori believes that there is a lot of similarity between Spain’s young star Carlos Alcaraz and legendary Rafael Nadal.

Alcaraz is now the talk of the town after winning his maiden Wimbledon title in London earlier this month after beating the current number two Serbia’s Novak Djokovic in a five-set thriller with a score of 1–6, 7–6(8–6), 6–1, 3–6, 6–4.

Nishikori, while talking to ATP, drew a comparison between the two Spanish players but believes that the 20-year-old has more pace compared to the 22-time Grand Slam winner.

‘'One thing I hope to get the chance to do is to play against these great young players like Alcaraz, [Holger] Rune and [Jannik] Sinner at some point,'' he said.

‘'That's part of my motivation to try to play for a few more years. I don't think we have seen anyone like Alcaraz before. He looks like Rafa but he has more speed. Good defence, unbelievable forehand and he has a good backhand too.''

The victory was indeed a special one, considering before this year, Alcaraz’s best outing in the third Grand Slam of the year was playing in the fourth round.

However, any comparison with someone like Nadal will be a slightly unfair one, largely because he is amongst the greatest players in the history of men’s singles tennis in the Open era.

Out of the 22 Grand Slams titles, 14 of those came in the French Open, which is why the 37-year-old is called the ‘King of Clay’.