"We were only Nadal, Carreno, Bautista, but now someone very special has arrived" - Rafael Nadal hails Carlos Alcaraz for taking up the mantle as future leader of Spanish tennis

Rafael Nadal has showered praise on compatriot and current World No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz for emerging as a generational talent in Spanish tennis. Nadal feels that Alcaraz's rise to the top this season is just the first of many heights as the 19-year-old aspires to be one of the greatest players of all time.

Alcaraz won his maiden Grand Slam singles title at the US Open, became the youngest ever ATP World No. 1 in the same year he made his top-10 and top-5 debuts, and also signed off the 2022 season as the youngest ever year-end No. 1. The young Spaniard also won two Masters 1000 titles in his breakthrough season.

Speaking ahead of the start of his exhibition tour in South America, Nadal shared his thoughts on Alcaraz's rise, expressing his pride at having an immensely talented player emerge as a future leader of Spanish tennis. He is happy to see "someone very special" in Alcaraz join the likes of himself, Pablo Carreno Busta, Roberto Bautista Agut, as a flagbearer of Spanish men's tennis and establish himself as the leader going forward.

"There has always been a generational change. It is true that we had been missing in recent years, we were only Nadal, Carreño, Bautista... but now someone very special has arrived," Nadal said, as per Eurosport.

"Happy to have someone very good in our country and that we enjoy him for many years," he added on the same.

The Spanish legend declared that his young compatriot can achieve great things in tennis and lauded him for already taking big strides in that regard.

"Carlos is a very different player, who aspires to be one of the best in history. He is young, he has started well, he has the potential to achieve great things and he is already achieving them," the 36-year-old stated.

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"The next generation will have to carve their way" - Rafael Nadal

Nitto ATP Finals - Day Five

Rafael Nadal also showed great confidence in the younger generation of men's tennis and believes the sport will have many heroes even after the 'Big 3' era is over with the retirements of Novak Djokovic and himself. The Spaniard feels that the next-gen will have to "carve their way" and work hard to earn superstar status, but he believes that the likes of Carlos Alcaraz and Casper Ruud, among others, are well equipped to take tennis to greater heights in the future.

"The next generation will have to carve their way," the Spanish great said. "It will take a while, stars will have to be generated, but they are on their way. There are already players of the new generation who have won Grand Slams. Here we have Casper who has been doing important things for years."

"There is a great generation of young people who will keep this sport very high," he added.

Nadal is joined by Ruud on his Latin American exhibition tour this week and the two will play matches at multiple venues across South America over the next eight days. They will also be joined by former players Gabriela Sabatini and Gisela Dulko during a phase of the tour, and the quartet will play mixed doubles matches.