Can 'charming' Carlos Alcaraz be bigger than 'The Big 3'?

0:02This is a Global Player original podcast. So at 22 years old, Carlos Alcaraz has done what some of the best players in history chase their entire careers. Winning the Australian Open to become the youngest man ever to win all four Grand Slams. At 22 years old, Chappers, I was on local radio. What were you doing? I think most of the time I was probably staggering around Hull in my final year at university, I think. Very similar career path to Carlos Alcaraz. So is he stamping a new era of dominance against perhaps the greatest figure of that golden generation, Novak Djokovic? Not to mention Alcaraz's childhood hero, Rafael Nadal, who is watching in the stands.

0:45Carlos, an amazing tournament, amazing couple of weeks. To your coach, to your family, to your team, what you've been doing, I think the best word to describe it is historic, legendary. So congratulations and I wish you the best of luck for the rest of your career. I mean, you're so young, you have a lot of time, like myself. So I'm sure we'll be seeing each other many more times in the next 10 years. Even Rafa used to wind up his opponents with his constant underwear adjustments. Novak has at times felt like public enemy number one. But Alcaraz is almost universally liked on and off the court.

1:29So is there a limit to what he can achieve? Welcome to The Sports Agents.

1:42The Sports Agents. With Gabby Logan and Mark Chapman. Hello, Mark. Hi, Gabby. So we're going to talk Carlos Alcaraz in a little while, which when you listen to that, we have recorded the conversations with our guests already, but you need to listen. Hopefully you listen all the way to the end anyhow, but you need to listen all the way to the very end of that for a brilliant Gabby getting pranked story. The rest of the chat is great as well, but the final story is brilliant. It is good to see you smiling. And I can only feel that part of that is to do with your team. not only this this incredible run that Michael Carrick has had as a caretaker interim whatever his title is manager but just the style of the victory on Sunday was so old school I mean I don't want to keep banging on about what what I feel like I say all the time but it is and some people get annoyed with me for this but it is meant to be fun sport is meant to be fun that's why we all got into it when we were kids because we enjoyed it and it's it's fun so and and this was very true with with Spurs and their second half performance against Manchester City you know I said this a few times over the weekend and Danny Murphy said it to me they pass forward they run forward they tackle and they try and score goals that's kind of why we all got into football and yes I know it's tactical and I know there are various layers to it and all these different elements and stuff but really we'd go there to be entertained and that you know if I look at United Sir Matt Busby's point always was back in the you know 50s and 60s for and it was men mainly at that point but for the working man at the end of the week on a Saturday they then come that is their downtime to be entertained and that's what I want from my football team my American football team, my rugby team, whatever it is.

3:37Cricket. We referred to Anthony Gordon's answer to a question he was asked last week ahead of Newcastle's Champions League fixture with PSG and he was asked to compare the difference between Champions League football and the Premier League and basically the answer he gave, a lot of the comments below were what he's saying is the Premier League is boring, Champions League is more fun because it's more open. That's in a nutshell kind of, you know. He was describing it in a much more technical, tactical way of how the Premier League, he was saying is so physical that it's just all about winning battles and moments that can be quite dull so careful not to sound like an old fart saying it was so much better back then or whatever but you watch some you watch not just the premier league but you may watch football from 20 years ago i don't know i watched an old firm game recently on sky from 2005 or something my god the tackles and the energy and pace of it and the power of it it was like at times it was like watching a different sport but it doesn't necessarily mean it was always better no no but just sometimes it's yeah yeah um speaking of different sport this is a story i'm not sure if you saw i did see this on social media and then had to check this story out a little bit more um jarell miller and his and his his hairy problems um so at the weekend um his his toupee uh was boxed off his head in madison square gardens um in the end it was hanging and he had to just rip it off threw it into the crowd i mean i didn't know he wore a toupee ahead of this no i didn't either so this was all news to me i think it was news to a lot of people because he then said something to do with picking up some bleach or something in his bathroom instead of shampoo and yeah something like that yeah yeah i'm not sure about that one either but um it's now become quite iconic the toupee people were posing with it he still won the fight though um by a hair what did the commentator say he did the commentator said he wins it by a hair he was the guy was meant to meet aj back in 2019 2019 yeah but uh failed lots of drugs tests um or failed a drugs test for multiple uh substances um maybe they were hair restorative kind of substances.

5:51Who knows? I just thought the way the toupee kind of flipped, it was like a 1970s comedy. It was like something out of carrier. It didn't just shift. It properly flipped up and then... It was what was underneath. I was quite... It was like a friar tuck kind of like border almost around the head, wasn't it? So do they get sewn on then? I'm not quite sure why you think... Why do you think I've got some kind of... I just don't think you're pushing yourself hard enough during match of the day. We want to see what happens when you get really energetic. Does that come off? No, I'm hearing it's glue.

6:30It's a special kind of glue. But it looked almost, I don't know, like bloody and sore underneath. Maybe the glue is quite strong. You've got to be fair. I mean, obviously, it wasn't. But you've got to be fairly confident. It's properly stuck down and cannot be moved. if you're going into a fight, because, I mean, the one area that's going to get hit quite a lot is the face and the head. There's going to be a lot of jarring. Apparently, no, I won't tell that story.

7:01Do you see how I'm policing myself as I get older? And for the first time in my experience of working with Gabby, she is actually self-edited. And by the way, it's not to do with my husband, which normally he's the fuck, because he does have, he's coming on the podcast next week, to talk Six Nations with his own hair. Imagine what that story could have been if it was that bad that Gabby has self-edited herself not to tell it. Should we talk about Ronaldo? If you want to. I want to try and tease this anecdote. He's got a good head of hair, hasn't he? And I believe it's all his own. So he's gone on strike, complaining about a lack of investment.

7:40It all seems to be to do with the fact that he wants to win the league effectively. And they haven't. which I was unaware of till this story because I'll be honest with you, I don't pay that much attention to the Saudi Pro League league table. But his Al Nasser team, they've won the equivalent of the Champions League, I think, but they haven't won the league title. That's gone to a couple of the other PIF-owned clubs over the first three years. And so he thinks there's a lack of investment into Al Nasser and that players, bigger players, you know, have been going there. And so he's gone on strike, which is extraordinary but the more extraordinary thing and one of the articles that i read was various mls clubs and european clubs have been in touch already about the possibility of of signing him and one of the reports that i saw was that he'd cost around 40 million 40 million i mean you would presumably make that back very quickly in shirt sales yeah that must be is the standard response.

8:43But even so... £500 ,000 a day he's currently on with his contract out there. He is going to retire after this World Cup, isn't he? He is going to hang up his boots. He might retire internationally after this World Cup. You think he'll carry on? I think he probably wants to keep... I mean, the contract goes to 27. Yeah, I think he probably... I think it's going to take a brave person to tell him to stop. Don't you? I wonder what odds you get. Who finishes first? Djokovic or Ronaldo. Do you want to do the WSL quickly? Yes. Because that feels like a momentous weekend. Yeah, it was a momentous weekend because Man City, who've been running away, seemingly running away with the league this season, it feels like it's a done deal now, beat Chelsea 5-1 at the weekend.

9:31City, Man City haven't won the title since 2016. Of course, Chelsea have won the last six. And now there's even talk of Bon Pastor, the Chelsea manager who took over from Emma Hayes, potentially her job being under threat because the kind of legacy of the Hayes era seems to not really be going particularly well. And they've also spent a bit, haven't they, to try and rejuvenate. It feels good when something becomes too dominant, as Chelsea were in the league. I think it feels better for the game to have, you know, a new champion. It is a decade since they actually won the WSL Manchester City and they are under a new manager as well.

10:05So the turnaround, round I suppose is big for them yeah yeah it's impressive and just the thrashing 5-1 you know they just didn't really look at the races at all Chelsea you know when you consider the talent they've got on display there and just we should as we had Tobin Heath on last week talking about the Champions Cup we should just say she's of course the two-time World Cup winner we should just say congratulations to Arsenal for winning the Champions Cup nearly blew it 1.7 million in the bank yeah for them didn't they though I mean Corinthians took them to extra time and And they had an, because I had it on in the match, the day off was on Sunday.

10:39Their away end was rammed, the Corinthians away end, the Emirates. It was there, the big, big support. Are they the Corinthians of London, do you think? Or actual kind of? Well, I think a bit, I think the Brazilian community in London, but there was a Corinthians, as in the British Corinthians flag in the away end as well. So probably a bit of both, I think. Get in touch with us, thesportsagentsatglobal.com. or via the link in the show notes or on our socials. And remember, you can catch up on our past episodes on YouTube, Global Player, wherever you get your podcasts. And when you're listening or watching, please make sure you subscribe or follow and leave a review.

11:16So next up, Carlos Alcaraz, the Australian Open, plus Gabby's anecdote that she didn't self-edit, with Charlie Eccleshire and Marcus Buckland. The Sports Agents.

11:31The Sports Agents with Gabby Logan and Mark Chapman Charlie Eccleshire, senior tennis writer at The Athletic and Marcus Buckland, tennis broadcaster of course, friend of the podcast. Welcome back from Melbourne. Thanks for coming on. Good to see you both. Looking very sprightly and bright. Obviously this international jet-setting suits you, Marcus. Listen, it's all about make-up and good lighting, Gabby, as you know. I like that was pointedly at me rather than you, Chad. We'll end the podcast there. That's all we needed. Thanks very much. So it was it was a thrilling weekend. And I think we're going to start with Alcaraz because he he is just phenomenal.

12:18I mean, you run out of superlatives for him, but to achieve what he has done now and to lay down that kind of marker at this stage of his career, Marcus, and receive the accolades he has done over the last 48 hours or so, we're living in yet another era of greatness. We thought we'd never kind of see again, you know, from over the last 10 years. We thought, oh, this is the end of something great. It'll never be like this again. I mean, it's extraordinary. When you look back at tennis history, Pete Sampos gets to 14 Grand Slam titles and everyone says, well, no one's going to match that. Then Roger Federer gets to 20.

12:53Well, no one's going to match that. Then Rafael Nadal gets to 22. Nobody's going to match that. Novak's up to 24. He's banging on the door. But the extraordinary thing is that when Novak turned 23, he had secured just one Grand Slam title. Here's Carlos Alcaraz, who is not 23 until the start of May, who has seven already, seven from the eight finals that he's competed in. So he is breaking all the records available to him at the moment. And of course, who knows what's going to happen in the future? But clearly, if he carries on like this, he's going to comfortably surpass Djokovic's 24 or maybe 25 if he gets one more.

13:33It is frightening what he is achieving at such a tender age. So if we're in an era of greatness again, Charlie, is that different to being a golden era because what he could do with is more genuine rivals over the next five years than just Yannick Sinner yeah I think the the big three big four era hit such a sweet spot because in any sport I think having just one person dominating isn't great and then having too many people who are kind of winning things isn't great because then people get confused and that's what happened with the women's game for a while it was just you You know, and even actually Wimbledon, you look, it's basically been different winners every year for the last decade or so.

14:14And I think that's not great. So that sweet spot is the kind of three or four in there. I mean, I think Alcaraz having Sinner is great. You know, that's a genuine rivalry. I think if Alcaraz or Sinner had come along without a genuine rival, then I think that would be tricky. Now, obviously, what everyone wants is for this kind of third person to emerge. in the way that Djokovic did with Nadal and Federer, because he took that to another plane. You know, we already thought that was developing as this all-time rivalry, which it did, but Djokovic made it even more special. Now, obviously, at the moment, Djokovic is that third man, but even he can't sustain that role for too much longer, we would have thought.

14:53Well, I did think, Charlie, one of the things that he said in the post-match interviews, he said something about, you and I are going to meet many, many more times. I was thinking, gosh, you're optimistic. Yeah, I mean, he did make quite a few jokes about how, you know, for us young guys trying to chase down Alcaraz. But yeah, I mean, he at the moment is that guy, which does add, you know, that's a real layer of intrigue and interest because Djokovic has been able to get in Alcaraz's head. You know, even he beat him last year at the Australian Open. He beat him in the Olympic final. But Alcaraz seems to have kind of worked that out a little bit.

15:26I don't think he loves the matchup. I don't think he loves playing Djokovic because he has to slightly, he has so much respect for Djokovic that there's a bit less of the kind of showmanship and the working the crowd up. He can't be quite that guy. And so I think he finds that a bit odd, but he's found a way to beat him and not let that sort of preoccupy him too much. I also wonder whether when he goes up against Djokovic, Marcus, that I know Djokovic has had very up and down relationships with different crowds in different venues over the years. But I was at the Olympic gold medal final. And Djokovic is in that sweet spot of a career of having a lot of goodwill towards him simply because he's knocking on 40 and people want him to get the next one.

16:09But that then is a different dynamic for Al Karaz to deal with, isn't it? in that he isn't the sole darling on a tennis court. Yeah, I mean, it's a good point. And I was conflicted at the weekend because I have enormous respect, of course, for Novak Djokovic. I love the way that Carlos Alcaraz performs, you know, the puppyish enthusiasm, the huge smile. I love his ethos. You know, he plays with Cabeza, Coradon and Cojones, which is head, heart and balls. And, you know, he wants to be brave. He says, you've got to be brave when it really matters. And he demonstrated that in particular against Sasha Zverev in the semifinals.

16:49But I did find myself wanting Djokovic to win on Sunday because the guy is extraordinary. And, you know, he's been knocking on the door to get that elusive 25th slam to go one clear of Margaret Court for such a long time. He says that he's lowered expectations to avoid being overwhelmed by emotions. Now, he's always wanted that popularity. He's always had to back up a little bit because Federer and Nadal inevitably got the love of the crowd and he dealt with that superbly. Now more people want him to do it. I think he's still got a chance, but it does add to the fascinating dynamic of this rivalry between the old master and the young gun.

17:28And he's turned it round. Obviously, 2022, the whole COVID kind of situation with him and breaching conditions in Australia, being booed on a court, you know, and in a tournament that he previously, you know, was so loved. He's had this kind of love-hate relationship with Australia. So it felt like he pulled it back this time. Whatever happens, they're going to remember him with nothing but fondness, Novak Djokovic, wherever he decides to call time on his career. But Al Karaz, he just appears to be universally loved, which was why it was quite surprising to hear him talk about being fuelled by the haters.

17:59Obviously, he split with his long-term coach just before the end of the year. And even in spite of all that, Charlie, he's, you know, he's managed to kind of keep his head together. and who are these haters? I mean, I'd like to meet them because it feels like there is nobody who has a bad word to say about this guy. Yeah, I think it was maybe less haters and more sceptics. I think there was a view that Alcaraz, and again, I think there are some quite dated perceptions of Alcaraz, but when he first emerged, there was this view of him of maybe being a little bit tactically naive and there was a match a couple of years ago where Ferreiro, his former coach, couldn't travel.

18:32He wasn't in Australia and Alcaraz threw in a dreadful performance against Sasha Zverev, lost in the quarterfinal. and I think there was a bit of a hangover from that and then he lost to the US Open against Bottic van der Zanschlup and very, very occasionally could throw in these kind of, you know, pretty dismal performances but they were so rare, they're non-existent now but there was a feeling that was Ferraro the kind of, the security that allowed him to go and play with this great freedom but just kept him in check a little bit. That was the perception and so I think when he split with Ferraro there was this feeling amongst some of, well, we've never seen him without Ferraro.

19:06Will he be responsible enough to, in a tight match, not start playing really extravagant shots at the wrong moment? People were asking that question, which is probably a legitimate question because we'd just never seen it. But I think what he's getting at is, don't doubt me kind of thing. I can do this. It wasn't my coach's success. Yes, Ferreiro played a huge part in it, but he's shown that he has matured so much because people wondered, How are you going to be in a really tight moment without this coach who's guided you throughout so much of your career? And he's just proved all those skeptics, doubters, haters, whatever you want to call them, completely wrong.

19:43I mean, even that is, I suppose, a slight lesson, Marcus, for us not to all get carried away. And I know you've said he's so far clear of what anybody else, any other male player had done at his age. And yet, you never know, do you, in sport? we've all been around long enough to yes he looks he looks on course to smash every record going and yet you never know when a split might come with a coach you never know when a wonder kid may come out of you know Germany or wherever you never you never know hopefully not where you might pick up a little niggle or injury or so whilst he looks on the verge of it sport has a has a very nasty way sometimes of kick you in the cojones, to use your phrase from earlier.

20:34It does. It most certainly does. Nothing is guaranteed. But I just look at a quote from Andre Agassi, I think it was last summer, when he described the Alcaraz game. And he said he's got the touch of Federer, he's got the court coverage of Djokovic, and he's got the RPMs, the rotations per minute of Rafael Nadal. So you're taking the three best components from arguably the three greatest players of all time. So given a fair win, And, you know, I totally accept your point that somebody, hopefully somebody maybe from the United Kingdom might appear from nowhere. And we do, I think, for the sake of the men's game.

21:07When you say from nowhere, I mean, we do know of one in Jack Draper. Who's obviously, but would he be a likely interloper into all of this? I mean, I think he can be a disruptor as long as he gets fully fit and he can stay fit for a considerable period of time, Gabby. He's already obviously made a semifinal at the US Open. He's got the game. The men's game does need two or three real serious contenders to come through. I still hope for Sasha Zverev's sake, actually, that he can finally get across the line. You know, he's come close so many times. But for all of that, I just think that the components that Alcaraz has, and as Charlie just said, the fact that, OK, he has now changed coach, has made no difference whatsoever.

21:50I do think he's got the ability to go and smash every record there is. If you flip it to the women's side of things, Charlie, and actually you talked about random winners coming out of nowhere in previous, you know, maybe if you go back five or ten years, the women's game at the moment appears to have an amazing top ten. So it's not somebody coming from 34 to win, but an amazing top ten who can all beat each other on their day, which gives you a great narrative. and they're all very different personalities, aren't they? I mean, Rabakina is, I just love Rabakina because she just wins, raises her hand and walks off.

22:33I'm a big fan of no fuss people. Yeah, I mean, she does. She wins a Grand Slam and emotes in the way I would if I was told like, oh, you can probably knock off for the day or something. You know, it's like a sort of, it's like that level of emotion. It's like, oh, that's, yeah, thanks. cool all right I will it's not like a collapsing to the ground and sort of you know what we expect from a grand slam win I mean at Wimbledon it was even more low-key um but no I think she's probably slightly embarrassed about that yeah well possibly um but yeah I think the women's game is in a great spot it's almost in that sweet spot I was talking about of having like you know a handful of people who could reliably get to the sharp end of slams and I was thinking actually the last five grand slams on the women's side have been won by five different players which you know can sometimes speak to a kind of randomness but in this case it's all they've all been won by players who are right at the very top and who we'd expect to be competing maybe with the exception of madison keys for the slams for the remainder of the year and you've got this fascinating thing where you've got a world number one in arena sabalenka who has a problem in the finals of grand slams and in finals generally is it a problem i mean she's four and four yeah so she's eight finals she's won four lost four if it's competitive yeah she's lost three of the last four and i yeah i've been as keen as anyone to kind of play this down because i don't think we should overstate it and i think if you look at them in isolation they've all been close i mean they're all three set finals they're all about six four in the third so she's she's not going out and playing badly necessarily but i just think you generally associate a world number one and she's been far and away the world number one for more than a year you you generally associate them with when it gets to the real latter stages of a slam, you think, okay, well, they're the one who's going to go on and win it.

24:19At the moment, you can absolutely rely on her to get to finals and certainly semifinals. She's unbelievably consistent, but she hasn't produced her best, certainly in those finals where she's lost. And even the one she won wasn't vintage. But Charlie, I think that's what makes her the most engaging personality. I mean, I take the point, Mark, that Rabakina is fascinating and so low key, but Sabalenka let it all hang out there. You live every single moment with her. I mean, that French Open final against Coco Gauff last summer, she was guilty of 70 unforced errors and yet it was still close. And again, the other day you think she's going to win and I just think the women's game is in a fantastic place at the moment.

25:02I love both Sabalenka and Rabakina because they're absolute opposites. You've got Sviontek who's dipped a little bit but is still more than capable of going on a roll. Coco Goff, who of course is so popular, so successful in terms of her commercial appeal, as well as what she does on the court. So the women's game is thriving at the moment. And of course, we just hope that some of the women from this country come into it. Sorry, Gabby. Yeah, yeah. Sabalenka looks just on her a minute. She looks, you know, on her social media, she looks like she's having a great time being a tennis player. And I'm known if not everybody can get themselves out there on social media, just ask Mark.

25:36But I kind of, you know, like that for young women for young girls that sport isn't this kind of you know holier than thou place where they've got to kind of you know just worship at the altar of tennis and do nothing else she seems to have a really good life and a good balance and when we hear so often tennis players talking about their mental health and having struggles and things you know kind of the stress is building up she does look like she's enjoying it but you know what she i think when she lost the french open in 25 and went out to Wimbledon she went away didn't she and she read uh into the magic shop yeah which is which is written by a neurosurgeon isn't it but it's all about the brain and love I think she she's talked quite a lot about that book but I mean I also thought you're going to reference fact that she went to I think it was Mykonos straight after and just had some time off and she was like I'm just gonna go have a drink decompress you know or do all the kind of in inverted commas normal things that people would do when you know when they just suffered a setback but she no she is she's very um kind of authentic and she's very visible she loves her tiktok dances and she's spoken about how you know because we've often asked her we've said you know a lot of world number ones it looks like they've got the weight of the world on their shoulders whereas with you it absolutely doesn't it does look like you're enjoying the ride and that is absolutely something to be applauded and i just hope and i don't think they will but i hope these sort of close defeats don't weigh too heavily on her because that can become, you know, self-perpetuating.

27:08I did order that book, actually. So I'm waiting to read that book. Whereas actually what I should have done Charlie now is just booked a week in Mykonos by the sound of it. Exactly. You can do both. Take the book to Mykonos. I think, Marcus, you were about to say something about British women there. Sunny Cartel have a great, you know, Wimbledon and that kind of elevated her status amongst the casual tennis fans, didn't it? It wasn't quite as successful this time around in Australia. But obviously, Emma Raducanu is the one that still gets the attention, still chopping and changing her coaching team.

27:37I feel like we ask you this every time we speak to you about her coaching setup. Yeah, I mean, I can't give you anything new on that other than to say I just sincerely hope she does finally rest upon somebody that she can really forge a good bond with over a substantial period of time because it was quite sad to see the way she played in the second round in Australia. She then immediately said a few things that made it very clear that she and Francisco Roig were going to separate. She's won a match at the start of this week, so we'll see what happens there. But yeah, two quick things I'd like to say.

28:04First of all, the example of Sabalenka, I so hope that all other players, both male and female, can try and tap into that. Of course, it's a lot easier when you're winning millions of pounds as well as losing a Grand Slam final. But tennis can be such a brutal sport. You do need to be able to switch off and go to Mykonos and maybe read a difficult book, or you can read The Man Who Saved Wimbledon by Roger Taylor, which I'd like to strongly recommend as well. The other thing from a British point of view, I'm excited by Hannah Klugman, who's got to number one in the world as a junior player. There is Mika Stoj-Savlovic, who won the US Juniors the year before last.

28:41There's Mimi Zhu as well. There are three really talented young British players, and it's going to be fascinating to see how they can translate their skills onto the main tour and maybe encourage Radu Kahn, as well to have a bit of companionship as they travel the world can ask you both maybe to to finish what this tournament is like to cover because there's so much there's so much discussion about tennis tournaments at the moment and how they are and what they are and how they're broadcast and so on and so forth to somebody who's never covered tennis this one looks like a lot of fun and I was reading an article this morning about how they basically try to make it the Glastonbury of tennis, make it feel like a festival for the whole thing and lots of other sports do that.

29:26You know, the Ryder Cup is as much about the village and a stage and who may be DJing or playing on the Friday or the Saturday night as well as the sport. So they're not unusual in that. But they do appear to be at the forefront of tennis in trying different things, suggesting different things, even the suggestion that the women go to five sets from the quarterfinals on. May happen, it may not, but they've just thrown it out there. They do appear different in a good way. Is that fair? Yeah, I would say so. I think it's a great event to cover. The media are really well looked after. The players generally love it.