Team Europe vice-captain Tim Henman has opened up on challenges of coaching Carlos Alcaraz at the Laver Cup. It is known that the Spaniard has a lot of energy and enthusiasm on the court, which Henman reckons makes it challenging to coach Alcaraz.
The former British player revealed Casper Ruud also gave his opinion to Alcaraz and asked him to stay in the rally against America’s Taylor Fritz.
Henman said on Served with Roddick podcast, “I think Alcaraz, obviously, for his personality and his energy, you know; however, I think Casper Ruud has, you know, an enormous experience in this event, and he said something to Alcaraz in the match against Fritz, and he just said, look, from where I’m sitting…
“And again, it’s been brave enough to give your opinion, you know, whether the player takes it or not is another thing, but he said, from where I’m sitting, when you get into the rally against Fritz, you’re more athletic than him. You’ve got a better forehand than him.
“You’ve got more variation than him. You don’t have to overplay. You can sometimes stay in the rally.”
“I think the challenge, obviously, for Alcaraz is he wants to look up at the screen above and see another spectacular winner, as we do, so… there are sometimes when you’re just, sort of, sitting on the side, saying, just stay in the rally, stay in the rally.
“But then he hits that incredible shot, you know, the drop shot that is probably the wrong shot selection, but he pulls it off, and you’re going, yeah, that’s the way, keep doing that. So you do end up contradicting yourself a fair amount.”
The Brit admitted the weirdness to give advice to players who play nothing like he did during his heydays.
He concluded by adding, on their differing play styles: “I think he’s [Ruud] got a great understanding of the way that he needs to play patterns of play that work for him, and that will translate for other players.
“And, you know, with Alcaraz, again, because there are so many options, you sort of end up sitting there and saying something really stupid, like, well, you know, just hit winners. If you hit winners, that will work. That’s not necessarily relevant for everyone else.”
