Rafael Nadal is probably nearing the end of his career and even if he did not win the French Open 2024, he will always be called the ‘King of Clay’. However, it seems as if Carlos Alcaraz is now ready to succeed the veteran Spaniard by mastering clay as well as at such an early age. After Alcaraz defeated Alexander Zverev to win the first French Open title of his career, the 21-year-old was once again compared to Nadal and the French Open’s social media handles came up with an eye-grabbing congratulatory post.
The French Open organisers added a royal flavor to their post, calling Carlos Alcaraz ‘Carlos I, the Prince of Clay.’ This new moniker is definitely inspired from Rafael Nadal and with Alcaraz being from the same country and achieving so much success, especially at such a young age on clay, it could not have been written better.
Roland Garros wrote, “CARLOS I, PRINCE OF CLAY”
CARLOS I, PRINCE OF CLAY #RolandGarros pic.twitter.com/lZWMplAmYK
— Roland-Garros (@rolandgarros) June 9, 2024
Rafael Nadal replied to that tweet from the French Open 2024 team in Spanish, which translated into the following in English -.
“Congratulations @carlosalcaraz for this immense victory!!!! Big!!!! Very happy for your successes!!! Vamos”
Enhorabuena @carlosalcaraz por esta inmensa victoria!!!! Grande!!!! Muy contento por tus éxitos !!! #Vamos https://t.co/bIBbJhyh4B
— Rafa Nadal (@RafaelNadal) June 9, 2024
This shows how secure Rafael Nadal is of his legacy and younger players who do well in tournaments he has won so often over the years. Nadal has always backed Alcaraz to the hilt despite the controversies the latter has attracted in his short career so far. With this tweet, the 14-time French Open champion agreed with the moniker bestowed to Carlos Alcaraz.
Carlos Alcaraz finally showed his prowess on clay after narrowly missing out on last year’s title. He was backed to win the Grand Slam by big names in the tennis fraternity such as John McEnroe, Rick Macci and Paul McNamee.
It would be interesting to see if Alcaraz and Nadal clash against each other at least once again on clay, before the Spanish legend retires from the sport. A battle between the King and the Prince will surely be one of the biggest ever in the history of tennis, now that Alcaraz is a French Open champion.
Remarkably, Carlos Alcaraz is breaking all the barriers for a 21-year-old tennis player and is outclassing the Rafael Nadal of the 2007-08 season in every aspect.
Is Carlos Alcaraz Better Than Rafael Nadal at Age 21?
Carlos Alcaraz has already won the French Open once, Rio Open, Croatia Open and the Argentina Open once and the Madrid Open (twice) and Barcelona Open (twice), which are all on clay. Alcaraz has also won Grand Slams on hard and grass.
With 14 ATP titles, including 3 Grand Slams, Carlos Alcaraz is surely on the right track at his age. However, at age 21, Rafael Nadal had won 23 ATP titles with 3 Grand Slams as well.
Although Nadal was ahead in the ATP titles count, most of his titles and all of his Grand Slam wins were on clay by the start of June 2007, when he turned 21. It took him another 18 months to prove his versatility on all surfaces as his first grass court Grand Slam win came in July 2008 while his first hard court Grand Slam win came in January 2009.
It also took longer for Rafael Nadal to become World No.1, an achievement which he completed in August 2008 at the age of 22. But Carlos Alcaraz has already tasted success at the very top and could regain the ranking from Jannik Sinner if he manages to defend his Wimbledon title in the coming weeks. Alcaraz might also topple Nadal by winning the men’s singles gold medal at the Olympic Games for Spain at a younger age as well.
