At 18, the Spaniard is already number 6 in the world after his win in Madrid and is making himself one of the favorites for the French Open, which starts in Paris in two weeks.
Won against three top four players: The young Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz can’t stop celebrating.
The sport of tennis has repeatedly produced figures who are quickly hyped as the stars of the future and then suddenly disappear into the broad masses of the highly competitive sport. But the youngest tennis prodigy confirms the advance laurels he’s been getting since his amazing run at the last US Open. The 18-year-old Carlos Alcaraz recently did that by winning the Masters 1000 tournament in Madrid.
On the way to his fifth tournament victory, his fourth already this season, the Spaniard successively beat the top ten players Rafael Nadal (4), Novak Djokovic (1) and most recently in the final Alexander Zverev (3). He had previously won the Masters 1000 tournament in Miami. He also won in Rio de Janeiro and Barcelona. In the annual ranking, he ranks second behind his compatriot and role model Nadal.
Alcaraz pushes boundaries
Alcaraz has long been compared to the record Grand Slam winner. After his victory in Barcelona, he became the youngest player to break into the top ten since Nadal in 2005. With the triumph in Madrid he improved to position 6. In the current year he has won 28 of his 31 games. He was only beaten at the Australian Open (Matteo Berrettini), in Indian Wells (Nadal) and Monte Carlo (Sebastian Korda).
The last player to beat three top four players en route to victory in Madrid was Argentina’s David Nalbandian in 2007. No other player before him has managed to defeat Nadal and Djokovic one after the other on clay. Two weeks before the start of the second Grand Slam tournament in Roland-Garros, the great sand dominator Nadal faced unexpected competition.
Alcaraz amazed in Madrid with his varied game and his groundstrokes. Together with coach Juan Carlos Ferrero, he had invested a lot of time in physical fitness during the winter break. That now paid off against both Nadal and Djokovic, against whom he had to go three sets each and left a fitter impression in the end.
Ferrero will also give him important advice for the French Open. In 2003, the year Alcaraz was born, Ferrero won the title there and then took the top spot in the world rankings for seven weeks.
Ferrero had previously looked after Alexander Zverev for a short time. The German also started the season strongly (21:8 wins). He had won twice in Madrid, in 2018 and 2021. In the final, however, he was overwhelmed by the playfulness and the pace of his opponent, who was seven years his junior. Alcaraz won the final 6:3, 6:1 in just 61 minutes. The Spaniard showed the only slight weaknesses when he came to his first three match balls on Zverev’s serve and missed them. The third in the world rankings then ended the match with his number 4 and 5 double faults.
Carlos Alcaraz in the winner’s interview after the triumph in Madrid.
In the end, Alcaraz won with 56:29 points and 12:7 winners. He took the service from Zverev four times and didn’t have to concede a single break point to his competitor. Zverev then apologized to the audience at the award ceremony for his performance and said to his opponent: “You may be much younger than all of us. But right now you are the best player in the world. You beat us all.”
A year ago, Alcaraz was number 120 in the tournament in Madrid and lost to Nadal in the second round. Two months later, in Umag, he won his first title on the ATP Tour, becoming the youngest player since Kei Nishikori. In September he indicated his immense potential for the first time with the quarter-final qualification at the US Open.
The young Spaniard also wins his fifth final
At the moment there is nothing to suggest that the young Spaniard from Murcia’s meteoric rise to fame is about to end. Already this week in Rome he will complete his next Masters 1000 tournament. Stan Wawrinka will also be there in the Italian capital. In the first round on Monday, the French-speaking Swiss will meet the American Reilly Opelka (ATP 17).
While Alcaraz is really launching his career, Wawrinka’s is fading away. The 37-year-old Romand has lost both matches since his comeback a month ago in Marbella, and Alcaraz has won all five finals he has competed in so far. The credit given to him in the scene is not exaggerated but well deserved. In his victory speech, Alcaraz said to Zverev: “You are an excellent player, a future number 1 and a future Grand Slam winner.” Zverev smiled at that. Because there is a high probability that Carlos Alcaraz will achieve these goals before the German.