WIMBLEDON — Gambling in tennis is a strangely taboo subject. Players, coaches, physios and the like are not allowed to place bets, yet the concept of gambling is at the centre of the whole sport.
On a practical level, the year-round tennis calendar helps feed the gambling machine with constant content for wagers – but on a more holistic level, the entire ecosystem is lined with bets.
The bet that a parent makes, spending time and money on their child that they might become a professional; the bet a governing body makes sending their brightest talent to a far-off university or academy; the bet a player makes when they flatten out a forehand in an effort to end a rally.
Juan Carlos Ferrero does not present as a big gambler – as a player, his game was more about perseverance that high-risk ball-striking – but when he saw Carlos Alcaraz, the coach “bet big”.
“He saw something different a long time ago in Carlitos and he bet,” former player Nicolas Almagro tells i of the now three-time grand slam champion, who begins his title defence on Monday against Mark Lajal of Estonia.
“Juan Carlos bet really big, and for that reason he is winning really big.
“He took a really important decision when Carlitos was really young and I think, right now, he was right.”
Ferrero first took that gamble on Alcaraz after seeing him play at the age of just 12. Ferrero, a former world No 1, would have had no shortage of offers for full-time coaching work – he briefly mentored Alexander Zverev, among others – but it was this young Spanish teenager that he felt worth his time.
And by the day in 2019 that Almagro and Alcaraz overlapped in the same draw at the Murcia Open, the former’s very last tournament, he was 15 but already impressing.
“He won the first round and everyone was going crazy,” added Almagro, who retired after the tournament.
“We saw that something huge was coming.
“It was much better that I did not play against him. He was gonna destroy me.”
He was not the only one. Lloyd Harris, the South African former US Open quarter-finalist, spent time at Ferrero’s academy training and hitting with Alcaraz in the same year.
“I turned around and said to Anthony, my coach, ‘This guy hits his forehand bigger than I do’. He was 15 years old and I was 22. I was already on tour and this 15 year old is whipping forehands like I’ve never seen before in my life,” Harris tells i.
“I still managed to beat him and games then, but I could imagine six months after already would have been maybe a different story.”
These days, Alcaraz is more than a teenage sensation, he is one of the world’s best, and he is getting better.
“The way he reads the game is totally different from other players,” Almagro says.
With Roger Federer gone, Rafael Nadal retiring and surely Novak Djokovic within a few years of his own departure at the age of 37, tennis probably needs a new star.
Alcaraz is already that, certainly in the eyes of John McEnroe, who has seen plenty come and go.
“I think Alcaraz is an incredible breath of fresh air,” says McEnroe.
“He’s an incredible talent. He’s got a great personality. He’s incredible. He’s great for the game.
“It’s always better when you have a mix it’s possible, like the youth competing with the the all-time greats.
“I think he’s gonna fill that gap as well as anyone possibly could to try and follow in those guys footsteps. Which is virtually impossible.”
McEnroe aded: “I would make him the favourite for Wimbledon. He’s got every shot in the book
“People love him everywhere he goes, there’s no question about that. So I hope that he does have that [X-factor]. I think he does and it is important that he does.”
Alcaraz’s X-factor could bring others through with him. Having won three grand slams at the age of just 21, he appears to have spurred on those around him. British No 1 Jack Draper, who is 18 months older than him, watched the Spaniard beat Djokovic from the sofa last summer having suffered a shoulder injury at the French Open.
“Since that moment I watched Alcaraz win Wimbledon when I was on the couch, that gave me huge motivation to want to come back to these big events and be seeded and be in a great position like I am, to give myself the opportunity to play on the biggest stages against the best players,” Draper said.
“Even though I was on the couch watching that final, when I got injured, it was my No 1 goal to come back, to be really strong, to be robust. I did that.”
There are few more robust than Alcaraz, but that too has taken time. In the French Open semi-final last year, his body convulsed with cramp during a tense, physical encounter with Djokovic that he lost due to the problems. He won the Roland Garros title this time around – albeit not having to beat Djokovic – but he does seem to be improving all the time.
“I think he learned something really important in the last couple of months, to win matches without playing really, really well,” Almagro adds.
“Because I think last year in Paris semi-final was a tough moment for him because he had everything under control, and then he was cramping against Novak.
“He was a little bit amateur in that in that moment, but this year, everything changed and we saw another Carlitos.”
Who knows how many more Carlos Alcarazes there are. You wouldn’t bet against a new one every year.