It’s hard to pinpoint a seminal breakout moment for Carlos Alcaraz. There are so many to choose from. In May, the week he turned 19, he beat Rafa Nadal and Novak Djokovic on successive days and still had enough spark to smoke Alexander Zverev on the third day to win the prestigious Madrid event. A month before that, still 18, he won the 2022 Miami Open. A few months before that, at the ATP’s “Next Gen” year-end event, he made it clear he was the brightest tennis star in ascent, turning that week into a personal showcase, winning 15 of 16 sets against his young peers.
Before those wins, Alcaraz had already cleared his throat and announced himself to tennis fans in New York. At the 2021 U.S. Open, Alcaraz arrived ranked outside the top 50, known by the cognoscenti but not the casual fans in the seats and suites. In the first round, Alcaraz beat a seeded player, Cam Norrie, in a result that has aged well. In the third round, in Arthur Ashe Stadium, the biggest tennis venue in the word, Alcaraz took down the world’s No. 3 player at the time, Stefanos Tsitsipas. It wasn’t just that he won—it’s that he did so in a more than four hours into a grueling affair, 7-6 in the fifth set, after losing the fourth set 6-0.
Alcaraz is one of those athletes whose talent is easy to spot; and so is his winning constitution. For a player born the same season that Roger Federer first won a major, Alcaraz is possessed of a remarkably mature and complete game. Yes, there is industrial-grade power. But there is also speed and instinct and nuance. Here is a player built like a linebacker who uses the drop shot to devastating effect.
