"Carlos Alcaraz reminds me of that" - Roger Federer's former coach suggests Alcaraz's instinctive style of play is reminiscent of Swiss'

Roger Federer's former coach Jose Higueras has suggested that Carlos Alcaraz's instinctive style of play reminds him of the Swiss maestro.

Higueras worked with Federer in 2008 and helped him triumph at the US Open. Before joining hands with the 20-time Grand Slam champion, he had coached top players, including Pete Sampras and Jim Courier. As a player, the Spaniard won a total of 16 titles and reached a career-high ranking of World No. 6.

Higueras recently featured in an episode of the Tennis Channel Inside-In podcast and shared his learnings from working with Federer.

"The one thing I learned when I worked with a player of that caliber is that they know a lot, they actually know more than me. So I got to be pretty careful with what I say but the couple of things that strike me with Roger is he has an honest love of the sport, he loves to play tennis," he said.

Higueras continued:

"And probably the most important part is how well he carried himself, how sincere and genuine he is when he relates to people. I’ve seen that first time him dealing with the people when there were no cameras, when nobody is watching."

Higueras further drew parallels between Federer and 20-year-old Carlos Alcaraz, saying:

"So as a coach, I also learned that there are some people and there are some players that you can structure more than others and, like with Roger, he’s a great talent. I don’t want to say, ‘was,’ because he is still here. There are a lot of guys, I think Alcaraz kind of reminds me a little bit of that too, they play by instinct a lot more than other players that you can actually structure."

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Carlos Alcaraz set to play Richard Gasquet in Australian Open 2024 opener

Carlos Alcaraz

Carlos Alcaraz will kickstart his third Australian Open campaign on Tuesday, January 16. He will take on France's Richard Gasquet in the opener.

The Spaniard holds the upper hand over Gasquet with a 1-0 lead in their head-to-head tally. He faced the Frenchman for the first time in the final of the 2021 Croatia Open and defeated him in straight sets.

The two-time Grand Slam champion made his Melbourne Major debut in 2021. He entered the main draw on the back of three convincing victories in the qualifiers but failed to advance further than the second round.

Carlos Alcaraz entered the draw in 2022 as the 31st seed and made it into the third round, where he lost to Italy's Matteo Berrettini. He opted out of the Happy Slam in 2023 due to an injury.