“I think he’s on 60% of his game,” Ferrero told reporters after the final in New York. “He can improve a lot of things. He knows and I know that we have to keep working. Once to get to number one, it’s not done and you go. You have to keep working, keep playing at a huge level on those tournaments to keep winning.

“I have the goal to put him on the highest level of tennis. Of course, I think it’s going to be very, very difficult to achieve what [the Big Three] have done in tennis. We’re talking about 22 Grand Slams. He has only one. It’s a long way still to go. But who knows? I think he has all the tennis and potential to be one of the best. All we have to do is try it.”

Compared to the Big Three, Alcaraz has claimed his first Slam at a younger age than both Federer (21) and Djokovic (20), and just four months older than Nadal was when he won the 2005 French Open.

Meanwhile, he has beaten all three, and all the 24 other previous ATP number ones, to become the youngest to claim the top spot, something Alcaraz himself cannot believe.

“I just can say that I’m really happy to move on to be number one in the world, still growing. I’m so, so happy,” he admitted. “Well, it’s crazy for me. I’ve never thought that I was going to achieve something like this at 19 years old. So everything came so fast.”

Alcaraz further explained that it was after his first Masters 1000 title that he truly began to believe he could capture a Slam crown: “Honestly, since I won Miami, I thought I was able to have a Grand Slam in my hands.