Carlos Alcaraz sends ominous warning in pursuit of Wimbledon three-peat

Few players transition from clay to grass courts as seamlessly as Carlos Alcaraz. 

Last year, the Spaniard participated in only one grass-court event between the French Open and Wimbledon — at Queen's Club in London, where he lost in the second round to Jack Draper. The lack of preparation didn't seem to affect Alcaraz, who dropped just five sets on his way to winning his second consecutive Wimbledon title. 

Thereafter, he returned to Roland-Garros for the Paris Olympics, where he ultimately fell to Novak Djokovic in the gold medal match. Within two months, Alcaraz won majors on the two completely distinct surfaces and captured a silver medal on clay. 

Alcaraz's ability to thrive on both clay and grass courts is a rare talent. Historically, we've seen iconic players such as Roger Federer, Djokovic and Pete Sampras fare well on grass and hard courts, which are similar in terms of quicker pace and lower bounce, but not dominate on clay. On the other hand, Rafael Nadal and Ivan Lendl excelled on clay courts, which are more suited to baseliners with their slower pace and higher bounce, but didn't necessarily conquer other surfaces.

The only other historically great player who looked just as comfortable on both grass and clay was Bjorn Borg, who captured five Wimbledon and six French Open titles. 

Alcaraz is on a similar trajectory, having won back-to-back Wimbledon and French Open titles, and gunning for his third consecutive grass-court major. As he attempts to three-peat at Wimbledon, he sent an ominous warning to the rest of the field via X this week.