Carlos Alcaraz, Holger Rune and Steffi Graf
Carlos Alcaraz jokingly calls out Holger Rune
Steffi Graf is one of only four to reach a certain level
Steffi Graf at the XXIV Olympic Summer
Talking trash in tennis is not necessarily an easy thing to do on the court. The players are separated by a net, of course, and usually by many feet of court. One player might have some words to another during changeovers, but then everyone is watching them so it would be a bit weird. Unlike in other sports, players are not going to get into each other’s faces very much.
This means that if someone is going to be known as a good trash-talker in tennis, they probably need to be very good at what they are saying without crossing the line into being a complete jerk. Carlos Alcaraz was recently asked a series of quick questions by YouTuber Sharky and one of the queries was who the biggest talker of trash on the ATP tour was. Alcaraz answered Holger Rune but smiled as he did so.
One might wonder what Rune says and where he says his words. Maybe there is quite a bit of joking around in the locker room. The one thing tennis fans know for sure is that Rune has not yet earned the right to speak sharp words to players such as Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner. Both players have won Grand Slams and Rune has not yet come close.
Carlos Alcaraz names Holger Rune the best at something and those who have won the Golden Slam
Age isn’t an issue either. Alcaraz and Rune are both 21. Sinner is only a year older at 22. Maybe one day soon Rune will finally be able to combine his physical and mental skills so that he can make a run at being the third member of a future Big 3.
Some players have accomplished even more than Alcaraz, though. At least, so far. The Spaniard is probably going to be one of the favorites at the Paris Olympics. If he wins there, he will lack only the Australian Open title to complete a career Golden Slam. Four players have completed that cycle.
The first to do was Steffi Graf who, during her incredible year of 1988, won all four Grand Slams as well as the Olympics. She is the only player ever to accomplish a Golden Slam in one calendar year.
Next. Carlos Alcaraz deftly avoids Emma Raducanu question. Carlos Alcaraz deftly avoids Emma Raducanu question. dark
She would eventually marry Andre Agassi, and Agassi can share in his wife’s accomplishment of winning the Golden Slam. Agassi took more time to do so. He had won the Australian and US Opens and Wimbledon before winning gold at the 1996 Olympic games. He won the French Open in 1999 to finish the career Slam.
Rafael Nadal finished his Golden Slam by winning the US Open in 2010 after having previously won every other major. He took home gold at the 2008 Olympics.
The fourth player to have accomplished the feat is Serena Williams. She won each major at least three times, but she won her gold medal at the 2012 games in London by losing only a single game against Maria Sharapova.
