"This is why Federer, Djokovic, Nadal are so good" - Leading sports betting analyst puts Carlos Alcaraz's variety along with that of Big 3

Carlos Alcaraz defeated Norway's Casper Ruud 6-4, 2-6, 7-6(1), 6-3 in the 2022 US Open finals last month to become the youngest Grand Slam champion since Rafael Nadal's 2005 French Open victory.

However, it was World No. 1's three matches before the final that garnered more attention since all three ended up in five-set thrillers against the likes of Marin Cilic, Jannik Sinner, and Frances Tiafoe. The tennis world couldn't get enough of the fact that the Spaniard came through back-to-back five-setters and then went on to win the championship.

Speaking about the rivalry between Alcaraz and Sinner on an episode of the Tennis Channel Inside-In podcast, leading sports betting analyst Pamela Maldonado mentioned the way Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, and Novak Djokovic pushed each other to become better players. She stated that Alcaraz and Sinner were doing the same thing for each other.

"It was like we saw Novak against Nadal, we saw Nadal against Federer, they pushed each other and made each other better," Maldonado said. "Why are they World No. 1, 2, and 3, the Big 3? Because they competed, they had to outmanoeuvre, they had to just outplay each other, and figure out a new tactic that they hadn't used previously. We saw that this year with Sinner. Carlos Alcaraz made Sinner so much better player."

She further said that the 19-year-old's opponents realize the variety that Alcaraz brings to the court, which is similar to what the Big 3 did.

"All the opponents that he has faced are saying, "Now I have to change my game and evolve because playing a baseline game is not going to cut it." We've been seeing this variety forever. This is why Federer is so good, this is why Djokovic is so good, this is why Nadal is so good. They all have variety. They have a bag of weapons that a lot of the players didn't have before Carlos Alcaraz came into the picture," she added.

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Carlos Alcaraz to take on Pablo Carreno Busta in Swiss Indoors QF

Carlos Alcaraz leads 1-0 head-to-head against Pablo Carreno Busta.

After beating Britain's Jack Draper and Netherlands' Botic van de Zandschulp in the first two rounds of the ATP 500 Swiss Indoors in Basel, Carlos Alcaraz is set to face compatriot Pablo Carreno Busta in the quarterfinals on Friday. The two players have met each other once before, when the World No. 1 defeated the 31-year-old in the finals of the Barcelona Open this year.

In his first two matches, 15th-ranked Carreno Busta downed Argentina's Sebastian Baez and Switzerland's Dominic Stricker. The winner of the match between the Spaniards will face either Canada's Felix Auger-Aliassime or Kazakhstan's Alexander Bublik in the semifinals.