In a press conference at Melbourne Park, the 20-time grand slam champion revealed he wants Alcaraz to win the Australian Open and make history as the youngest career grand slam conqueror.
“Those things are tough,” said the Swiss.
“At the end of the day, the momentum shifts after the first round. Then it’s point-for-point mentality. At his young age, completing the career Grand Slam would be crazy.
“So let’s see if he is able to do ‘crazy’ this week. I hope he does because for the game, again, that would be an unbelievable, special moment.
“He has another hundred and whatever players that say, ‘We don’t agree with those plans’. They might try to stop him.”
Alcaraz and Jannike Sinner are the top two seeds at the grand slam and if they meet in the final, it would be their first match at the Melbourne Grand Slam.
If the dominant pair do play in the Australian Open championship match, they will become the first duo to play in four consecutive major finals since Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal (Wimbledon 2011 to French Open 2012).
Sinner is the two-time reigning Australian Open champion, while Alcaraz is seeking his maiden crown in Melbourne – which would see him become the youngest man to complete the career Grand Slam in the Open Era.
Federer went on to laud Alcaraz and Sinner’s rivalry and the epic French Open final the duo contested last year.
“The rivalry with Alcaraz and Sinner is a great one,” he said.
“They play incredible tennis. I think that French Open final was unreal. I think the game, not that it needed it, but it was great that we had it.
“I feel like for a second, for a moment, the world stood still in the sporting world and watched towards Paris, what was going on in that epic fifth set, because it could have ended much, much sooner obviously for Jannik.
“Then all of a sudden it ended up in this most crazy fashion. Maybe one of the greatest games we’ve ever had in our sport. It’s good we still live off that momentum. Then they backed it up by playing against each other in all those other finals.
“Everybody is trying to keep up and they’re trying to pull away. What we’ve seen in terms of their progression in the last years, it’s been wonderful. I practised with those guys a little bit. They’re incredible ball strikers. There’s obviously more to come. I just hope they stay injury-free.”
