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Cameron Norrie, the ninth seed at the ongoing Rome Masters, has lauded teenage sensation Carlos Alcaraz for his physicality and big-game mentality.
Norrie hailed Alcaraz's performances at Barcelona two weeks ago, where the Spaniard saved two match points against Alex de Minaur in the semis before brushing aside veteran Pablo Carreno Busta in the final.
"For someone just turned 19, what he did in Barcelona as well, playing back-to-back matches, playing 3 hours 40 with De Minaur, coming out and chopping Carreno in the final, doing that and having that physicality at that age is impressive," Norrie said. "I'm 26, and I play 3 hours 30 in Barcelona and had to play 2 hours, and I was cooked."
The World No. 11 termed Alcaraz's rise as "impressive" and "good for the sport."
"For me to see him doing that, not only having the physicality but having the ability mentally to concentrate, then also backing it up and beating Nadal, backing up the next day and beating Djokovic, then chopping Zverev. It's impressive, and it's cool for the sport," he said.
Meanwhile, Norrie is into the second round in Rome, where he'll face Marin Cilic.
Alcaraz, 19, has been on a tear this year, racking up a tour-leading 28 wins and four titles. At the Madrid Masters on Sunday, he floored three successive top-five opponents and former champions - Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Alexander Zverev.
That made him the youngest winner in Madrid and the youngest player in 17 years to win multiple Masters 1000 tournaments (since Nadal - 2005). In the process, he rose to No. 6 in the world rankings.
Carlos Alcaraz withdraws from Rome, hopes to return fresh for Roland Garros
Carlos Alcaraz sprained his ankle during his quarter-final win over Nadal in Madrid. However, that didn't seem to hinder the young Spaniard in his next two matches. Alcaraz beat top seed Djokovic in a third-set tie-break before dismantling defending champion Zverev in straight sets.
However, Alcaraz's Rome debut will have to wait a year, as he withdrew from the tournament to get ready for Roland Garros.
The teenager gave his reason for withdrawing from Rome in a press conference following his title win in Madrid.
"I think that, you know, given the state of my feet and my ankle, I am really excited for fighting for a Grand Slam. I think that it's better to rest, to recover my ankle, recover my feet, to be in Paris at 100%," he said.
Following his impressive exploits this year, Alcaraz will hope to breach the Roland Garros bastion of 13-time winner Nadal.
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