‘This Guy Is an Animal’ – Andy Roddick Goes All Heart for Carlos Alcaraz After Seeing Him Beat Stefanos Tsitsipas in Miami

Just like his idol Rafael Nadal, Carlos Alcaraz has been on a roaring run since 2018, when he turned pro. The 18-year-old is already in the Top 20 and has won two career titles till date. After suffering a semifinal blow in the Indian Wells, Alcaraz is currently playing at the Miami Open. He last beat Stefanos Tsitsipas in the fourth round to set up a quarterfinal clash with Miomir Kecmanovic.

The whole tennis community went gaga over his performance against the Greek player. However, what caught the most attention was former World No. 1 Andy Roddick’s take on Alcaraz’s game. Post the match, the 2003 US Open champion gave a technical insight into Alcaraz’s game, calling him an ‘animal’.

Andy Roddick analyzes the forehand of Carlos Alcaraz

Carlos Alcaraz is known for his aggressive groundstrokes and his quick on-court movements. Combining the two factors together, what comes out, as a result, is the perfect adjustment to shots. Being a big hitter himself, Andy Roddick ought to know the difficulty level of what Carlos does with ease.

Going gala over his movement, Roddick said, “This guy moves like it’s unbelievable.” He further went on to praise Carlos’s quickness in adjustment to the ball saying, “People normally have to grow into their movement a little bit and he doesn’t need much time to fire the forehand.”

The key area of Alcaraz’s game is his forehand. Even at the age of 18, the Spaniard has one of the biggest forehands on the tour. During the match, the right-handed player shows no mercy in hitting deep forehands, forcing his opponents to put their defensive foot forward.

What’s more? Unlike most players, he doesn’t wait for the ball to come in at his comfort point (between the shoulder and the waist). Instead, he adapts his game to the ball and hits accordingly.

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Elaborating further on Carlos’ forehand, Roddick probably gave Carlos the biggest compliment he had ever got. The American compared Alcaraz’s forehand to the legendary player Andre Agassi, asserting that the two have a similar kind of adaptation technique.

“Most of the guys with huge forehands need two feet under them to give it a ride. This guy can turn on it real quick, almost like Andre Agassi used to,” he said. “You would hit a big ball to him and it would come back just as fast,” he added.

Roddick on Alcaraz beating Tsitsipas

Carlos has played Tsitsipas twice in his career and is leading the head-to-head race 2-0. Prior to their last match in Miami, they last played in 2021 at the US Open. Even though Tsitsipas gave his all during the match, it was Alcaraz who came out to be victorious in 5 sets. At the 2022 Miami Open, Alcaraz took just 1 hour and 50 mins to beat Tsitsipas in straight sets.

Even though the tennis community asserted Tsitsipas’ exit as an upset, Roddick looked at it from a different angle. Going all praise for Alcaraz, Roddick said, “This guy is no joke. He’s the real deal and I don’t know that this [the win over Tsitsipas] is an upset.”

One of the biggest servers and strikers of the game ended his view by asserting that Carlos is an animal. He said, “I don’t know that we’ve seen someone this young, who you kind of expect to win matches like this often. This guy is an animal.”

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On the tennis front, Carlos is in the semifinals and is set to face Miomir Kecmanovic in the quarterfinals.