Carlos Alcaraz: the new tennis star who conquered the U.S. Open

This Sunday, New York experienced the birth of a new era in world tennis. Carlos Alcaraz not only became the new world number one, but also the youngest in history. With his characteristic strength and drive, the 19-year-old Spaniard defeated Norwegian player Casper Ruud in the US Open final in four sets: 6-4, 2-6, 7-6, 6-3.

With a short but meteoric career in professional tennis, Alcaraz already has 6 ATP Tour trophies in his trophy cabinet. In 2020, he made it into the top 250 ranked players and two years later he is the best player in the world.

In the two short weeks that the US Open lasted, Alcaraz put on display the best version of himself and reached the top of tennis. Winning his first Grand Slam and reaching the first position in the ranking at only 19 years of age is a "letter of introduction" of a player who will give many great moments to tennis going forward. This is the second title (US Open and Miami) he has won out of the twelve official tournaments played in the United States.

Its beginnings

Carlos Alcaraz Garfia was born on May 5, 2003 in the town of El Palmar (Murcia, Spain). It was there that at the age of 4 he started playing tennis at the Real Sociedad Club de Campo de Murcia, where his father was the director of the tennis school.

Alcaraz left at the age of 14 to the Equelite JC Ferrero Sport Academy in Villena (Alicante). It was here that he met his coach Juan Carlos Ferrero, former world number one and winner of Roland Garros in 2003.

First professional victory and first ATP Challenger title

On February 17, 2020, Alcaraz won his first professional match at the age of 16, defeating fellow Spanish tennis player Albert Ramos in the first round of the ATP 500 in Rio de Janeiro. After this victory, he managed to position himself among the 250 best tennis players in the world in the ATP ranking.

Six months later he won his first ATP Challenger title (unofficial tournaments but with recognition in the ATP ranking) in Trieste (Italy). After this, he won three other tournaments of similar category: Barcelona (Spain), Villena (Spain) and Oeiras (Portugal).

2021: first ATP Tour title

With four Challenger titles in his cabinet, the name Carlos Alcaraz became an ever present name among the rest of the players and experts. On January 13, 2021, he played his first Grand Slam match at the Australian Open. At the time, I was only 17 years old, he stated.

The ATP Tour 250 tournament in Umag (Croatia) was a turning point in Alcaraz's career. On July 25, 2021, he won this tournament and became the youngest tennis player ever to win an official title.

Recognition and first Grand Slam

In 2021, he contested all four Grand Slams, recording his best position at the US Open (quarterfinals). In November, he lifted the Next Generation ATP Finals title, a tournament contested by the top seven players under the age of 21 along with a guest.

The turn of the year marked the recognition of Carlos Alcaraz. Little by little, he began to climb the rankings and continued collecting titles. Between February and May, he won four official titles: two ATP Tour 500 (Rio de Janeiro and Barcelona) and two ATP Tour Masters 1000 (Miami and Madrid). He also reached the quarterfinals of Roland Garros.

From August 29 to September 11, the US Open was held at the USTA, Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Queens, New York. Alcaraz managed to beat world-class opponents such as Jannik Sinner and Frances Tiafoe to reach the final and win the tournament.

Alcaraz has burst onto the scene with a force and in an era difficult for any tennis player. In the last twenty years, tennis has been monopolized by Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer. Now, a new generation led by Carlos Alcaraz will have to give tennis lovers those matches and points as spectacular as the ones these three tennis masters gave us.