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Jose Higueras includes Rafael Nadal and Carlos Alcaraz in his Mount Rushmore of Hispanic players
Tennis NewsFriday, 20 October 2023 at 14:22
Rafael Nadal and Carlos Alcaraz were among Spanish coach Jose Higueras' picks for his Mount Rushmore of Hispanic players.
The former French Open semi-finalist represented Spain throughout his tennis career, which ran from 1973 to 1986. Since then, Higueras has coached some of the greats of the sport, including Pete Sampras and Roger Federer.
On a recent episode of The Courtside: The US Open podcast, the 70-year-old was asked to put together a Mount Rushmore of the best players from Spain and Spanish-speaking countries. Mount Rushmore is a national monument in the US featuring the faces of four American presidents.
Higueras: "Obviously, Rafael Nadal would be at the top"
Higueras included the obvious choices of 22-time Grand Slam champion Nadal and World No. 2 Alcaraz, while also adding Manolo Santana, Argentinian player Guillermo Vilas, and Pancho Gonzales who was an American player of Hispanic descent.
"Obviously, Rafael Nadal would be at the top. Pancho Gonzales, I believe, was a great player and a great competitor. There is another Spanish player, Manolo Santana who I think was an exceptional tennis player in terms of what you can do with a tennis racket and with a ball.
"He [Manolo Santana] was unbeliebable and he was won the Slams also. Then you have Carlos Alcaraz who at a young age has a spot there. Having said that, you also have Guillermo Vilas," he explained.
He went on to include French Open champions
Carlos Moya, Albert Costa, and Juan Carlos Ferrero, as well as the 1975 US Open champion Manuel Orantes.
However, Higueras stressed that he would not include himself despite his great work as a coach.
"I definitely wouldn't put myself there unless I put a lot of things together. Besides my playing ability I have to put the other things that I have contributed to the game with pleasure," he said.
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