After the freedom and ease of his historic first years on tour, in recent months Carlos Alcaraz has felt the pressure of his elevated status. He has struggled at times with his game, head, body and even with the less-than-charitable comments from those praying for his downfall.
It was only a matter of time, though, before he found his way again, as he did on Sunday by successfully defending his Indian Wells title with a 7-6 (5), 6-1 win over Daniil Medvedev, the fourth seed.
The victory marks Alcaraz’s first title at any level since his remarkable win over Novak Djokovic in the Wimbledon final eight months ago, a period that has seen him suffer numerous difficult losses. He arrived in California with significant doubts after being forced to retire from his first-round match in Rio last month after spraining his ankle in the second point of his encounter with Thiago Monteiro.
“Winning this tournament means a lot to me because the week before the tournament began, I had a lot of doubts,” he said. “I remember my first practice, it was 30 minutes, no movement. It was really tough for me because I thought I was not going to play my best, I was not feeling well with my ankle, so a lot of doubts for me. Once I stepped on to the court, I started to feel better. As I said after every match, it was feeling better and better, so really happy to win the tournament.”
Like Iga Swiatek, the women’s champion, a few hours before him, Alcaraz continues to pave a singular historic path in the sport at such a young age. The 20-year-old is just the second player to win five Masters 1000 titles before his 21st birthday, an achievement only attained by Rafael Nadal. He has now also won 13 tour titles. Alcaraz also breaks his tie with his coach, Juan Carlos Ferrero, for total Masters 1000 titles won, moving to second among Spaniards, also behind Nadal’s 36.
Having caused so much conversation in his first years on the tour, at times this year as hype has swelled around Jannik Sinner, his abilities and success have actually felt quite underrated. This week, Alcaraz avenged his Australian Open quarter-final loss to Alexander Zverev before offering a proper reminder of his pedigree on Saturday afternoon by recovering from a set down to end Sinner’s 16-match winning streak with a statement three-set win.
Early on in the final, it was Medvedev who soared, establishing a 3-0 lead as Alcaraz’s errors piled up. But Alcaraz gradually found his range across the frantic, high-octane exchanges throughout the set, and after narrowly closing out the first set tie-break, Alcaraz opened up his shoulders and played with total freedom to close out another spectacular triumph.
