"It's very possible": Mats Wilander picks Rafael Nadal as perfect coach for Carlos Alcaraz

Former world number one Mats Wilander believes that legendary tennis star Rafael Nadal might well be a perfect coach for the young Carlos Alcaraz. The 38-year-old, who is regarded as one of the greatest players in the history of men’s tennis in the singles category in the Open era, after having won as many as 22 Grand Slam titles, has recently retired from professional tennis after Spain crashed out of the Davis Cup.

Nadal struggled with fitness concerns towards the latter stages of his career. He returned to the court earlier this year after spending nearly 12 months on the sidelines, but he failed to continue producing goods, eventually retiring from professional sports.

Former world number one Wilander recently spoke to Eurosport, where he expressed optimism about Nadal's return to tennis as a coach. The 60-year-old was of the opinion that the 22-time Grand Slam winner might well become a perfect coach for someone like Alcaraz who has the passion but has struggled in maintaining intensity from first point to the last.

"It's very possible that Rafa Nadal comes back as a coach,” he said. “I am pretty sure that Rafael Nadal will be coaching at some point. I think he's going to be involved in thinking about tennis, and to me, that's again so valuable for our sport, to hold on and to get these guys, I can even imagine Rafael Nadal coaching Carlos Alcaraz, for example. A player like Carlos Alcaraz, the one thing that they are missing is to keep the same intensity level, from the first point till the last point. Rafael Nadal was the master in keeping the same focus from the first point to the last point. Carlos Alcaraz, at this particular moment, he's not able to do that in every match. Rafael Nadal was able to, so I can see that the value that Nadal would bring to any player, whether it's a kid back home at the Nadal Tennis Academy in Manacor on Mallorca, or if it's a professional.”