Carlos Alcaraz has revealed that his younger brother refused to copy him in favour of one of his rivals.
Jaime, aged 13, is an aspiring tennis player and was recently caught on camera looking like a mini Alcaraz.
But the four-time Grand Slam champion confessed that Jaime actually wanted to model his game after Dominic Thiem, and even refused to use his racket so he could be like the Austrian.
Thiem is officially ending his career this week. The 31-year-old made history when he won the US Open back in 2020, becoming the first male player born in the 1990s to win a Grand Slam title and the first new men’s Major champion in six years.
The former world No. 3 had long been tipped to succeed the Big Three but he picked up a career-threatening wrist injury less than a year after his US Open triumph. Since then, he has never been able to rediscover his best form and he will now retire at the Vienna Open.
Ahead of his farewell, Alcaraz joined some of Thiem’s other rivals to pay tribute to his career. And the current world No. 2 revealed that the 31-year-old had a significant impact on his younger brother.
“My little brother who play tennis, he’s a huge fan of Dominic Thiem,” the 21-year-old said. “He used to play with his racket not mine so, he was always like watching Dominic.”
Jaime’s love for the 17-time title winner rubbed off on the rest of the Alcaraz family.
The four-time Major winner continued: “I hear a lot of things from my little brother, ‘I wanted to play like Dominic Thiem, I wanted to play like him with same racket, same style.’ So my family, we have really high admiration for Dominic Thiem.”
Jaime has previously shared his admiration for the Austrian on social media. After Thiem reached the final of the 2023 Kitzbuhel Open, Alcaraz’s little brother shared a photo of him holding the runner-up plate to his story.
When Thiem arrived in Madrid earlier this year for the Masters 1000 event, Jaime commented “LET’S GO” on his Instagram post. And Thiem is already well aware that he has a loyal fan in Jaime.
The former world No. 3 noticed the teenager was using his Babolat Pure Strike racket instead of his Alcaraz’s Babolat Pure Aero while he competed at the IMG Future Stars event last year.
“He is playing the right racket, @carlitosalcaraz,” Thiem wrote, tagging Alcaraz. The 21-year-old replied: “@domithiem he loves you! You are his idol.”
However, fans believe the 13-year-old plays more like Alcaraz than Thiem. After a recent video of Jaime hitting went world No. 2 was forced to step in, urging fans not to place high expectations on his sibling.
“Honestly there are a lot of people around, a lot of videos and accounts from social media that are saying that he’s going to be similar to his brother,” he said. “And I don’t really like that you know in that way. I just want all the people or all the social media to just leave him alone because he plays well but it’s not the best.”
Content Source: www.express.co.uk