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Mats Wilander believes Carlos Alcaraz has the weapons to beat Novak Djokovic at the Australian Open and claimed the Spaniard is better than the Serb in three areas.
The former world No 1 thinks both Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner can defeat Djokovic at “close to 100%”, but he does not feel the 36-year-old legend “thinks that anyone can beat him.”
Djokovic and Alcaraz could meet in a potential blockbuster final at the 2024 Australian Open in what would be a sixth meeting between the pair, with the former holding a 3-2 edge.
The Serbian won three of the pair’s four clashes last year, including the last two meetings, while Alcaraz prevailed in an epic five-set Wimbledon final.
The world No 1 will face fourth-ranked Jannik Sinner in the semi-finals in Melbourne on Friday after he downed Taylor Fritz in four sets on Thursday.
World No 2 Alcaraz will take on sixth seed Alexander Zverev in the quarter-finals on Wednesday and will meet world No 3 Daniil Medvedev if he reaches the last four.
Wilander expressed his belief that two-time major winner Alcaraz possesses the tools to defeat Djokovic anywhere, but highlighted the 24-time Grand Slam winner’s belief.
“He does have the weapons to beat him. I think anywhere. The question is Novak hasn’t lost in Australia once he made the semi-finals. So, yes he has the weapons but no one has such a deep source of confidence, that I don’t think he thinks that anyone can beat him,” the Swede told Eurosport.
“But if you look at Alcaraz, he’s faster than Novak from one spot to another, he hits the ball a little bit harder than Novak on the forehand, he plays with more variation than Novak which is why he won Wimbledon.
“All of that is much riskier than what Novak does. Now if they all come out and play at 95%, nobody wins every tournament on every surface. But once in a while some guys, when they play at 100% can beat him. And Alcaraz is one that can beat him when he’s close to 100%.
“Jannik Sinner has shown him when he’s close to 100%, he can beat him. And it’s basically the young guys that can beat him. Daniil Medvedev needs Novak to go down a level for him to have a chance in my eyes.
“But Novak is a superhuman, but he’s still human. So he has bad days. The question is, who can make him have an off day? And there are not many guys, there are only two or three who can.”
The seven-time Grand Slam champion also looked ahead to Alcaraz’s last eight encounter with Zverev and identified the German’s serve as key.
“It’s more about Zverev I think. I think we have to realise that when Zverev’s serve is most probably one of the two or three best serves in the game,” Wilander assessed.
“At times he’s unplayable because he serves so well. When he serves well, then it’s very tough to serve against him because he moves well for a big guy, and has great groundstrokes.
“Zverev has a good chance if he has a great serving day. If he doesn’t, then there are a lot of areas where Alcaraz is better. But again, Alcaraz has won two majors but he’s still very raw.
“When he’s up, he’s unbeatable. When he’s down, there’s a lot of players that can beat him. He doesn’t seem to be down through a whole match but he has dips, and if Zverev can take advantage of those dips by serving great then it’s probably 60-40 in favour of Alcaraz.
“I wouldn’t go 20-80 because of Zverev’s first serve. You just can’t return a serve that comes from that high up, at 220 kilometres an hour. I don’t care what your name is.”
READ MORE: ‘I think that’s when Novak Djokovic will retire’ – Tennis legend shares thoughts about Djokovic’s future
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