Alcaraz 'has a real shot' to win Roland Garros says former finalist

Carlos Alcaraz ‘has a real shot’ to win Roland Garros says former finalist

Alex Corretja has put young compatriot Carlos Alcaraz among the frontrunners to clinch the French Open this year.

The newly-crowned Miami Open champion is now up to 11th in the ATP rankings with that maiden Masters 1000 title.

Former world number two Corretja believes 18-year-old Alcaraz has a chance to go a step further than he did in 1998 and 2001 to win Roland Garros.

Corretja told Eurosport: “Alcaraz has got a real shot of winning Roland Garros, for sure.

“He is going to be among the top three or four players to win the tournament.

“We need to see how the clay season goes, but definitely, right now, nobody likes to play against him, because you know that you will suffer.

“You see a guy that is flying on the court, he hits the ball hard, he defends well, and of course, you see that he is going to fight until the end.”

By becoming the youngest man ever to reach the semi-finals of both Indian Wells and Miami, even before winning the latter, Alcaraz had already proven his credentials in mental competition, something Corretja notes.

“He has proved that his emotions, he is controlling them very well,” the Spaniard added.

“He is acting like he has lots of experience, but he is still very young. So that shows that he is very smart, very clever.

“He is very professional.”