TThere were many topics that could have entered Carlos Alcaraz’s mind during the delirium that followed achieving a goal he has pursued all his life: the career grand slam achieved by beating Novak Djokovic at the Australian Open. He could have reflected on the sheer hard work and discipline it took to achieve all this, or his comically large, close-knit team and family who faithfully follow him around the world, or even how close he came to losing everything in his semi-final match two days earlier.
Instead, as Alcaraz navigated the long line of post-slam media interviews for the seventh time in his career while clutching the Norman Brookes Challenge Cup, his thoughts turned back to… his haters: “To be honest, I’m now thinking about the people who said I wouldn’t make it, who thought I would come to Australia and not even get past the quarter-finals,” Alcaraz told Eurosport Spain in Spanish. “That I would come here to Australia and not play good tennis. Those who didn’t believe in me. I remember those people honestly. It seems ironic that when I would think about my people, my team, all the work we put in, that’s ultimately the thought that came to my mind right now.”
There have of course been many challenges in Alcaraz’s career, and he has had to overcome countless obstacles to continue winning major titles at such an unprecedented pace, but controversy is not something he is familiar with. For all his fire on the pitch, the 22-year-old is a warm, pleasant person who plays fair and has become an incredibly popular figure both on and off the pitch. Despite being dominated by him all year, his fellow players voted him the winner of the ATP Sportsmanship Award last year. He is not used to being part of any kind of disharmony.
For that reason, the aftermath of December 17, when Alcaraz made the shocking announcement that he had ended his partnership with his old coach Juan Carlos Ferrero, was an unusual experience. The next day, reporters showed up at his tennis club in El Palmar, Murcia, trying to elicit comment on the subject from him as he drove to work. The noise only grew louder as Ferrero broke his silence. While Alcaraz and his team presented the split as mutual, the 45-year-old coach stated in a number of interviews that he had wanted to stay and that he was pained that he was no longer part of Alcaraz’s journey. For weeks, questions about the world number 1’s decision and future prospects dominated Spain’s vast network of sports radio shows and newspapers. Alcaraz is very active on social media, which means he’s seen it all.
He dealt with these difficulties in the right way, focusing on his work with his team and on this ultimate goal. Becoming the youngest man to ever win seven Grand Slam titles – and a career Grand Slam – is the reward well deserved. It is so indicative of his prodigious talent and toughness that in his very first tournament since promoting Samuel Lopez as his main coach, he left with this career-defining performance.
Although Ferrero will always be a key figure in Alcaraz’s development, this victory is a confirmation of his decision. Alcaraz is still so young, but he is also growing up. He has shown that he is able to take more responsibility for his career and make difficult decisions with his team.
Despite how Jannik Sinner stumbled and his loss to Djokovic was his worst result in a major tournament since defeat to Daniil Medvedev at Wimbledon in 2024, the ATP remains a duopoly. The two players will continue to compete against each other in finals for the foreseeable future and Alcaraz will definitely lose to Sinner in future big matches. However, this tournament underlined why the Spaniard is also following his own unique path and has had an advantage over all other players since the end of the big three era.
Alcaraz has been on an unprecedented trajectory for some time now. Before setting these new age records, he became the youngest man to reach ATP No. 1 at the age of 19 after winning the 2022 US Open, the only teenager to ever do so. With this result he has cemented the fact that he is the best young male player the sport has ever seen. Whether this will translate into his ultimate goal of being the equal of Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer at the top of men’s tennis is still far from certain. However, these are just the early days of Alcaraz’s historic career and he still has so much more to achieve.
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