Rafael Nadal has warned that people "should not rush into judgments" about Carlos Alcaraz because of his early successes.

At just 20 years old, Alcaraz has taken the tennis world by storm. At the 2022 US Open, he defeated Casper Ruud in the final to win his first Grand Slam title. Then, in the final of Wimbledon this year, he went on to achieve the incredible feat of emerging victorious from a five-set battle against seven-time champion Novak Djokovic.

The Spaniard also has a total of 12 ATP Tour-level titles and has already been World No. 1 in the ATP Ranking for 36 weeks. As a result of this success, many are lauding Alcaraz as a 'generational talent', set to replace the Big Three as the next big name of the sport.

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Nadal urges for caution

In an interview with Movistar+, the 22-time Grand Slam champion and Big Three member Nadal urged for people to be cautious regarding pressure and expectations put on his young compatriot.

"We should not rush into judgments about him. He has a brutal projection. He has the power, the ambition. But later in the careers of each athlete, many things can happen," he said.

The 37-year-old tennis star has been absent from the sport since the Australian Open in January, where he crashed out in the second round against Mackenzie McDonald. He then went on to announce that he would be skipping the rest of the 2023 season to undergo surgery for injuries, with the aim of returning in 2024.

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Nadal offers advice to Alcaraz

Nadal also asked offered some advice to Alcaraz, simply saying that he would tell the young talent to keep improving.

"It is difficult to advise him. I am very bad at advising because I have learned more from examples than from words. But if I had to tell him something, I would only tell him to keep improving or at least have the hope of doing it, which is what keeps you motivated," he said.

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