Carlos Alcaraz ‘hurting’ after Federer beats him in golf

Dubai: Maybe, former Swedish world No 1 Mats Wilander saw something that others may have missed when he suggested Roger Federer would make a perfect coach for current world No 1 Carlos Alcaraz, after the Spaniard parted ways with Juan Carlos Ferrero recently.

While the six-time Grand Slam champion, currently purring smoothly in quest of his first Australian Open title, has modified his service action to resemble Novak Djokovic more, his overall game reminds purists of the legendary Swiss for his innate ability to make shot-making look easy.

But that’s just tennis. The Spaniard was recently left marvelling at Federer’s swing at the golf course prior to the Australian Open, something he revealed following his 7-6 (4), 6-3, 6-2 win over Yannick Hanfmann on Wednesday in the second round of the year’s first major at Melbourne Park.

The 22-year-old Alcaraz said he got together with Federer for a round of golf, and it went just as he had expected. Federer’s swing, he said, is “as beautiful as the tennis.”

“Everything he does, he does in style,” Alcaraz said. “He’s been playing for two years now and his level is really, really good.”

“I’ve been playing five and he beat me,” he said, laughing. “It hurts, yeah!”

It’s little surprise Alcaraz is looking to some of the greats of tennis, like Federer and Djokovic, to figure out ways to get ahead.

The Serb has already told Alcaraz jokingly they need to speak about copyrights regarding the ‘copied’ serve and consequently a percentage of the winnings.

And while the Spaniard must have taken some lessons from Federer in golf, it remains to be seen if their partnership will extend to tennis as well.