Roger Federer responds to Carlos Alcaraz being called 'a sick combination' of him, Djokovic and Nadal by his ex-coach

Roger Federer recently repsonded to his former coach Ivan Ljubicic's suggestion that Carlos Alcaraz represents a unique combination of himself, Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal.

Currently competing at the 2023 Wimbledon Championships, Alcaraz began his campaign with a strong 6-0, 6-2, 7-5 win over Jeremy Chardy on Tuesday, July 4. With the Spaniard playing on Court 1, his match was not observed by Federer, who had been honored on Centre Court the same day.

In an exclusive interview with CNN Sports, Roger Federer was asked for his thoughts on his former coach Ivan Ljubicic's comments on Carlos Alcaraz. Ljubicic had said in the lead-up to Wimbledon 2023:

"He is positive and he is something we haven’t seen so far – some sort of a sick combination of Djokovic, Federer and Nadal."

The 20-time Grand Slam champion shared his surprise at the comment, acknowledging the weight of expectations that accompanied the praise.

"He said that? That is quite a compliment. It's a lot to live up to. I think Carlos at his young age, the age that he is right now, he's doing incredible things," Federer said.

Federer highlighted the Spaniard's exceptional minset of entering Grand Slam tournaments with the aim to win, indicating his propensity to willingly put pressure on himself.

"I always don't like to put too much pressure on younger players, especially like, 'He's going to do this.' But he's the type of player who says, 'Well, I'm coming to Wimbledon, I'm coming to win. I'm coming to Paris, I'm coming to win.' So he's putting that pressure on his own which is great," he said.

The 41-year-old also expressed his belief in Carlos Alcaraz's ability to achieve incredible success in the future.

"And that's why I can then also say, I think he will achieve incredible things in the future. Which means multiple Slams, many years as hopefully as the World No. 1," he added.

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"It will be interesting for me to see how Carlos Alcaraz is going to play at Wimbledon" - Roger Federer

Carlos Alcaraz advances at Wimbledon 2023

Roger Federer expressed his interest in watching Carlos Alcaraz's campaign at the 2023 Wimbledon Championships play out. He shared his particluar interest in seeing how the Spaniard would deal with the challenges of the slippery grass courts in the earlier rounds.

"It will be interesting for me to see, especially how he's going to play at Wimbledon and especially the first few matches. Because it's the first few matches where the grass is like this carpet, you know, it's soft, it's slippery, you've got to take that little extra step, losing confidence in your movement and next thing you know, you're not playing so well and things become tricky," he said.

Additionally, Federer said he believes the World No. 1 possesses all the necessary skills and versatitlity to win matches, which the Swiss called the qualitites of a champion.

"But I think he's got all the tools, he's got a lot of different ways to win matches and I think that's what champions are made of," he added.

Carlos Alcaraz will be up against Alexandre Muller in the second round of Wimbledon 2023. Muller defeated Arthur Rinderknech 7-6 (5), 1-6, 6-3, 6-4 in the first round.