Carlos Alcaraz meets his “crush”, Maria Sharapova

It was in Toronto that the best tennis player in the world, Carlos Alcaraz, was finally able to meet the girl who had always been his idol and “girl”, Maria Sharapova.

The 20-year-old was training at Academy United when he came across the person who has dominated his sport since the mid-2000s. Five-time Grand Slam winner Sharapova retired in 2020.

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And the account of the Tennis Academy, Juan Carlos Ferrero, former player and now coach of the Alcaraz team, posted the photo on the Tennis Academy’s Instagram account. Except the original caption was misleading, as the Spanish and Russian were referred to as “ex-No. 1”. Alcaraz is still the best player in the world, having cemented his place at Wimbledon at the expense of Novak Djokovic.

“I was in shock because I didn’t expect you to be here in Toronto,” he said at a press conference on Wednesday. She was the first in the elevator and I asked, “Is that Maria?” See what I mean?”

“I’ve admired her since I started playing tennis,” Alcaraz said. I was excited to see it in person. She was very charming and congratulated me on winning Wimbledon.

early successes

In addition to being No. 1 in their sports, Alcaraz and Sharapova share four Grand Slam titles before the age of 21. A worthy successor to Rafael Nadal already has two.

“Carlos is amazing. What amazes me most about him is his combat at every point,” Sharapova, happy to meet the Spaniard, told Gazzetta dello Sport. He manages to put on a show and excite the crowd every time he steps onto the pitch. I can’t wait to see him progress. I’m very curious to see what he can do.”

On Thursday night in Toronto, Alcaraz was scheduled to throw a round-of-16 duel against pole vaulter Hubert Hurkacz.