'I could not be more torn': Jim Courier shares feelings after watching Carlos Alcaraz's aggressive play at French Open

Former world number one Jim Courier has expressed mixed feelings after witnessing Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz’s aggressive play at the French Open. The 22-year-old, who is already regarded as one of the best players in the world in men’s tennis in the singles category, is defending his crown in Paris.

Alcaraz, who lifted the French Open in 2024 after beating Germany’s Alexander Zverev in the final in a five-set thriller with a score of 6–3, 2–6, 5–7, 6–1, 6–2, cemented his spot in the fourth round at the Roland Garros this year after beating Damir Dzumhur with a score of 6-1, 6-3, 4-6, 6-4. That win sets up a mouthwatering contest in the fourth round against America’s Ben Shelton, who cemented his spot in the last 16 after beating Italy’s Matteo Gigante in straight sets with a score of 6-3, 6-3, 6-4.

Former world number one Courier spoke to TNT Sports after Alcaraz’s win in the third round and stated that he has mixed feelings after seeing the young Spaniard play aggressively on the court. The 54-year-old stated that he loves watching Alcaraz’s aggressive play but is concerned that it will not give him benefit in the long term.

"I could not be more torn about it," he said. "I could not be more in love and in awe with the style of the tennis he brings to the court because it is something so unique and his unbelievably aggressive mindset is so different from the Spanish mindset which is concentrated, percentage tennis. But the other part of me that wants to see him challenge the all-time great records thinks if you do a little bit less of that, and still do it at the right time when you have the scoreboard lead, maybe in 10-15 years we will be looking at you and Roger [Federer], Rafa [Nadal] and Novak [Djokovic] and having a comparison. We will see."

He continued by saying: "He’s an interesting cat, there are not many people who can create trains and also make them run on time. He is a creator and it’s very difficult for him to keep his attention span unless he is hitting great shots. That can be a learned discipline but it will never be his strength. His strength is creating euphoria in stadiums, dropping all of our jaws, but that comes with risk and inconsistencies, and if he wants to be as great as he possibly could be and wants to squeeze all the juice out of his career he will have to sand off the edges a bit of all the options that he has. But we will be worse off as fans for it."