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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Sport
Tumaini Carayol in Murcia

‘This boy was born to be No 1’: the making of Carlos Alcaraz

Carlos Alcaraz, world number one tennis player
The mural of Carlos Alcaraz in his hometown of El Palmar, and and him with his former coach Kiko Navarro. Composite: Getty Images

In the south-eastern corner of El Palmar, a village in south-eastern Spain, the Real Sociedad Club de Campo sits in the mountains overlooking the Murcia region’s eponymous capital city. Exactly 100 years ago, the club was founded solely as a hunters’ society, where those of privileged backgrounds would convene to shoot pigeons out of the sky. Its evolution into a handsome private tennis club has unexpectedly positioned it as the place where many people first glimpsed the player who could be the future of the men’s game.

It was on the grounds of Tiro de Pichón (Pigeon Strike), as the club is still colloquially known as today, where many people saw Carlos Alcaraz and left with the belief that they had seen something special.

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