Rafael Nadal open to advising Carlos Alcaraz: Ready any time he wants

Rafael Nadal is open to giving advice to Carlos Alcaraz in the future, in case the youngster needs any. Alcaraz defeated his idol 6-3 6-3 in the semifinals of the Six Kings Slams in Riyadh on Thursday. 

Nadal has all the experience under his belt and the veteran Spaniard feels Alcaraz doesn’t need much advice as he is ticking all the right boxes in his young career. Alcaraz has a great team, head coached by former Spain player Juan Carlos Ferrero.

“I think he doesn’t need much advice. He has a great team, great family. He’s gonna be going very well with what he has. He’s learning all the time. We can see he’s evolving in every way. But of course, I’ll be ready any time he wants to call me,” Rafael Nadal said in the on-court interview.

Nadal said he knew Alcaraz would have a bright future ahead of him when he practiced with him for the first time before the Australian Open 2021.

“Well of course when you’re in the tennis world, when someone comes from the same country as you and he’s winning, he’s special and people told me someone very good is coming. I didn’t have the chance to watch him til we practised in Australia in 2021. Something like this. Even if he was very young you see things you don’t see in the others. You can see it now,” Nadal said.

Meanwhile, Nadal will take on Novak Djokovic for a third-place finish and the Spaniard said it will be nostalgic for him to face his arch-rival. Nadal has a 29-31 W-L record against the Serbian.

“To have Novak in front of me, it’s like a nostalgic thing,” Nadal told reporters. “We’ve played each other a lot, so it’ll be fun to play each other again in this match.”

Djokovic defeated Nadal in the second round of the Paris Olympics in straight sets.