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Italian football club Juventus signing a player, who happens to share the same name as tennis star Carlos Alcaraz, has sparked hilarious reactions from fans of the sport.
On the final day of the transfer window, January 31, Juventus signed Argentine footballer Carlos Alcaraz on loan with an option to buy from Southampton. The Serie A side will pay an initial loan fee of €3.7 million, with the option to buy price reportedly being set at €49.5 million.
While football fans were intrigued by the news, tennis fans took the opportunity to poke fun at their own Carlos Alcaraz, joking about him trading in his racquet for a football.
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"I'm not sure why he's given up tennis, but good luck to him," a fan posted.
"MASSIVE signing. Maybe he'll win a few US Opens," another fan chimed in.
One fan hilariously remarked that the Spaniard's defeat to Alexander Zverev in the quarterfinals of the recently concluded Australian Open had prompted him to switch sports and move to Juventus.
"Bro lost to Zverev in the quarters of the Australian Open and went to Juve," the fan joked.
Meanwhile, tennis writer Bastien Fachan quipped that Jannik Sinner, who has developed a close friendship with the Spaniard, would be unhappy with the World No. 2 abandoning tennis for football.
"Jannik Sinner is not gonna like this," he posted.
Here are a few more reactions from fans:
"Carlos Alcaraz maintains his character as a risk-taking player, but this personality can cause defeats like this" - Mats Wilander on Spaniard's Australian Open QF loss
Carlos Alcaraz was on the hunt for his maiden Australian Open title and third Grand Slam title overall in Melbourne this year. However, Alexander Zverev dashed the Spaniard's aspirations, defeating him 6-1, 6-3, 6-7(2), 6-4 in the quarterfinals of the Major.
Mats Wilander analyzed the World No. 2's defeat. He suggested that while Alcaraz's bold and risk-taking approach makes him exceptionally entertaining to watch, it could also cause such defeats, as was evident in his match against Zverev.
"[Alcaraz] constantly maintains his character as a risk-taking player, whether the score is 0-0 or 5-5. When [Alcaraz] plays well, he is the most fun and exciting player I have ever seen in my life , but this personality can cause defeats like this," Wilander wrote in a column for L'Equipe.
Wilander further asserted that the Spaniard had employed "strange" tactics at the beginning of the match, not allowing himself the opportunity to establish a rhythm before taking on an aggressive approach.
"Carlos Alcaraz's strange choice of blows at the beginning of a match in which he was clearly in a bad mood. It's like he didn't realize that he had to find his rhythm first before he let the horses loose," he added.
Carlos Alcaraz will be in action at the Argentina Open next, which is scheduled to commence on February 12. The two-time Grand Slam champion will be the defending champion at the event, having defeated Cameron Norrie 6-3, 7-5 in the final of the ATP 250 event last year.
