At just 21 years old, Carlos Alcaraz has already won four Grand Slam titles and five Masters 1000 titles. The young Spanish champion started winning in 2022 and has already broken several records, showing the world all his enormous talent and revealing his ambitions to want to become one of the best players ever.
The 21-year-old from Murcia has already been world number 1 for 36 weeks, but is currently almost 5000 points from the first position in the ATP ranking.
Although he became the youngest ever to win Roland Garros and Wimbledon in the same year, the current world No. 3 has not had the same consistency as Jannik Sinner in 2024 and has also been overtaken by German ace Sascha Zverev in the latter part of the season.
A few dips during 2024 have made a negative difference for Carlitos, who will have to limit these ups and downs in the coming years to return to the top of the ATP ranking. Alcaraz’s peaks are unattainable for anyone, including Sinner, but consistency is still one of the Spanish ace’s weaknesses.
Before starting the pre-season together with his coach Juan Carlos Ferrero, the 4-time Grand Slam champion spent a few days of vacation with his brother Alvaro in the Dominican Republic and played a couple of exhibition matches in the United States. Most notably, Carlos faced Ben Shelton at Madison Square Garden in New York and fellow American Frances Tiafoe in Charlotte last week.
Carlitos has played several exhibitions
Although he has complained several times about the ATP calendar in recent months, the former world No. 1 has played several exhibitions in 2024. In addition to the two exhibition matches against Shelton and Tiafoe last week, Carlitos had also participated in the ‘Six Kings Slam’ in Saudi Arabia in October.
On the latest edition of the ‘Rennae Stubbs podcast’, Caitlin Thompson revealed how much the players who participated in the recent exhibition at Madison Square Garden in New York earned: “The rumor is that it is between $1 and $2 million, guaranteed. I have heard as much as $2 million.”
She also added: “I heard Jess and Emma got $100,000 and Ben got anywhere between $200,000 to $500,000. I have heard from a couple of different sources.”
Although he has already won several very prestigious titles during his young career, the Spaniard knows very well in which areas he can still improve. 2024 has shown Carlitos what his current weaknesses are, such as the inability to maintain the same intensity throughout the season. If he eliminates the ups and downs that still affect him, the former world number 1 has all the skills to enter the list of the best players ever.
Lots of lessons
This season, the 21-year-old from Murcia has also learned how to handle some particularly painful losses. The reference is above all to the final of the Paris Olympics, in which he was defeated by 24-time Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic at the end of a sensational battle. The 4-time Grand Slam champion was the top favorite to win the gold medal on his favorite surface, but he didn’t manage his nerves well against a legend of modern sport. That loss had a significant impact on Alcaraz’s mind, who was eliminated in the second round at both Cincinnati and the US Open.
In addition, the world number 3 can still improve in indoor conditions where he struggles to play his best tennis. Carlos was eliminated in the round of 16 at the Rolex Paris Masters and in the group stage at the Nitto ATP Finals in Turin. It is fair to point out that an intestinal virus prevented him from being 100% in Turin, especially in his first match against Casper Ruud.
In a long interview with ‘Tennis365’, former French ace Jeremy Chardy talked about Alcaraz’s current status: “I still think Carlos has a lot to improve. He is still playing like a young player still. He is going for everything and he has that energy, but I still feel there is more to come.
When you see him in a couple of years, you will see a more complete player and that is exciting.
What he has done already is amazing when you consider his age, but you would not say a player is complete at the age of 21.
We are lucky in tennis to have these two young players in Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner who can bring so much to the sport in the next few years
It’s still very early in the career for Sinner and Alcaraz so in a few years, maybe we can start to compare to the Big 3.”