French Open 2023: Carlos Alcaraz ‘a complete player’ – John McEnroe says ‘sky the limit’ for star

Eurosport expert John McEnroe says Carlos Alcaraz can win “at least” 10 majors as he gave his assessment of “a complete player” watching the Spaniard perform at the 2023 French Open.

Alcaraz, who was in action against Taro Daniel on Court Philippe-Chatrier on Wednesday afternoon, is the world No. 1 and the top seed at Roland-Garros as he seeks his second Grand Slam title and first on the famous red dirt in Paris.

While Alcaraz is hardly flying under the radar – with the precocious Spaniard tipped for glory, along with fellow leading contender Novak Djokovic – McEnroe believes that “the sky seems to be the limit at this point” with the 20-year-old’s game and general talent on the court.

“You’re darn right [that Alcaraz could win more majors],” McEnroe told Eurosport commentator Chris Bradnam.

“You say 10 [Grand Slams] and that sounds absurd to the other guys who are at 20, 22. You then think that he should get at least that much. I always thought, ‘hey, I’ve got seven, that’s pretty good’, but now it’s like, ‘where did I go wrong?’

“The sky seems to be the limit at this point. Expectations are so high; you want to temper them and put more pressure on him, but he seems to handle it unbelievably well. At some point, it’s going to hit him, and we just hope he will be ready for it then.

“Truthfully, I think he is a complete player,” he continued. “His backhand could be better, and I’m trying to think what else. I’d give [all his attributes] an A or an A+. His backhand would be a B+. That’s not to say it’s bad.

“I’m not kidding, this is the best I’ve ever seen a 20-year-old, as complete a player. Sampras had the biggest serve I ever saw in my life. How could someone that age serve that big? Becker was another. Pete’s backhand [was weaker], and Boris maybe didn’t move as well as some of the other guys.

“You could look at a couple of things and figure that if they won as much as they did, if they did improve, they weren’t already completely there. [Alcaraz] is all there.”

A few days ago, fellow Eurosport expert Laura Robson likened not only the talent but the “natural charisma” and pulling power of Alcaraz to the ‘big three’ of Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer.

“I think [I admire] everything [about Alcaraz]!” Robson answered when asked by co-presenter Alize Lim what she most admired about the Spaniard.

“I wish I had a bit of what he has; he was born with it. He has that natural charisma that engages the crowd [and the] community.

“You see people flock to his practice sessions the way we haven’t seen since Djokovic, Rafa and Federer; these once in a lifetime tennis players. It seems like we have that in Carlos.”

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