Match Points: “If Djokovic has an edge on Alcaraz, it’s very slight”
In our most recent edition of Match Points, esteemed panel members Marion Bartoli, Carole Bouchard and Simon Cambers weigh in on the current status of the Djokovic v Alcaraz rivalry with an eye pegged on 2024. Who has the advantage at the moment, and how might things play out? It’s not an easy race to … Continued
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In our most recent edition of Match Points, esteemed panel members Marion Bartoli, Carole Bouchard and Simon Cambers weigh in on the current status of the Djokovic v Alcaraz rivalry with an eye pegged on 2024.
Who has the advantage at the moment, and how might things play out?
It’s not an easy race to handicap, given all the factors at play, such as Djokovic’s age and Alcaraz’s propensity for rapid growth.
If Novak has an edge, it’s slight
Our panel agrees that it is Djokovic who holds the upper hand at the moment, but they all recognise that Alcaraz’s propensity for rapid growth makes it a difficult rivalry to project.
“At this moment in time, if they met tomorrow, you’d maybe give Novak a slight edge but I think it could change every week,” says Cambers. “We’ve seen the way that their two game styles match up so well. I mean, they are basically killing each other on the court every time they play. It’s phenomenal to see.
“If Novak has an edge, it’s very slight.”
Hard to argue with the fact that Djokovic has the edge at the moment, says former Wimbledon champion Marion Bartoli.
“I think we have to go deeper into the analysis and when you look at the season, there is one who won three Grand Slams and one who won one Grand Slam, it’s as simple as that,” Bartoli said. “And one who played four Grand Slam finals and one who played one.”
Carole Bouchard also believe that it’s advantage Djokovic, at least for the time being.
“Novak without a doubt,” she said, when host Josh Cohen put the question to her. “For 20 years he’s been sliding, running everywhere. It’s insane. The effort on the body because he makes it look like it’s normal. It’s not – it’s insane.”
Bartoli: Djokovic is the perfect athlete
It’s hard not to be blown away by what Djokovic has achieved in 2023. He now stands alone atop the men’s singles Grand Slam list for the first time in his career after passing Nadal as he racked up major titles in Australia, Roland-Garros and the US Open.
Any way you slice it, Novak is the man, and the onus will be on Alcaraz to make steady improvement in his game, physicality and mentality if he ever wants to have the type of season that Djokovic had in 2023.
“I think we have to just look at a broader way on how each other are handling the whole season,” Bartoli said. “And out of that for now, as it stands, Novak’s doing a better job.”
Certainly age will play a factor, and Alcaraz, not yet 21, has upside on his side as Djokovic approaches 37.
“That doesn’t mean it’s not going to change of course; obviously Novak is more towards the end of his career than the beginning,” Bartoli said. “But I just think that the way he has managed this season… and just the mental strength and the ability to bounce back from anything – I found it extraordinary and I don’t think a lot of people can pretend to have the same mental strength as him.”
The Frenchwoman went on to say that Djokovic is the perfect athlete, built for longevity on a tennis court, and that is something that Alcaraz will strive to measure up to over the years.
It won’t be easy.
“If you will build the perfect tennis athlete you can’t have someone better than [Novak],” she said. “The flexibility, the smoothness, everything moves freely.”
Bartoli says that young guns like Alcaraz and Rune will have to learn to take care of their bodies and play in a way that puts less stress on their frames in the future. That explosive quality has helped Alcaraz and Rune rise to the top of the game at an extremely young age, but it has also sabotaged them at times as well.
“That’s also why Carlos and Holger got so good so early, as well,” Bartoli said. “So it’s the pros and the cons from what their game styles are and they way they are built physically, but for sure they we’ll have to watch out because if they want to last that long it’s going to take a lot out of both of their bodies.”
