Carlos Alcaraz

The Real Sociedad Club de Campo, in a suburb of Murcia in south-eastern Spain, is essentially where “Carlitos” did his growing up. He knows everyone here, since his dad (also named Carlos Alcaraz) has run the academy here for decades and Alcaraz’s great-uncle (“Jefe”) is the president. The windows of the nearby groundskeeper’s office are plastered with faded newspaper clippings of Alcaraz triumphing at the US Open when he was just 19 years old – and simultaneously becoming the youngest world number one of the modern era – alongside pictures and cartoons of him winning Wimbledon and the French Open.

“I probably spent more time here than I did at home,” says the 21-year-old multi-Grand Slam winner, standing in an old gimnasio stuffed with balance balls, pool noodles and retired 1980s exercise bikes. Alcaraz is looking cosy and relaxed in a heavyweight Nike hoodie. To meet him here is to witness him in his inner sanctum. It is December, and while most rootless multimillionaire tennis players spend their off-seasons training in their tax-haven homes of Dubai and Monaco, Alcaraz comes back here to regroup. He’s back for that sliver of time when professional tennis players get a break from the relentless 11-month tour schedule – the tournament caravan that moves countries every week or two, chasing an eternal summer.

Not that the off-season is a holiday: there’s extra gym work to make the physical gains that can’t be achieved during tournaments for fear of muscle soreness. And it’s when players iron out any weaknesses and develop new weapons. Alcaraz is working hard on changing his service technique (coaches say altering any shot is like having open-heart surgery on your game) so he can measure up better against the game’s “servebots” – the super tall players who rely on their hugely powerful serves to win free points.

The Australian Open title will eventually go to number one seed Sinner, after he beats the German Alexander Zverev in the final with a typical display of consistency, aggression and calm. But even though Sinner is at the top right now, it’s actually Alcaraz who has won each time they’ve met over the past year. “Sinner had one of the best seasons ever, so I’m really happy that the last three times that I played against him I beat him,” he says. Many still see Alcaraz as the more gifted player, but to be number one requires incredible consistency throughout the season – something Alcaraz knows he needs to work on. Year-round consistency is harder for him than for Sinner, since his game style is riskier and more creative, but he’s looking at ways to ensure his brand of electrifying tennis can constantly deliver.

Wherever Alcaraz stands in the rankings, his tennis is still by far the most exciting form of the sport you can watch right now, especially if you’re lucky enough to see it live. It’s an all-court game full of pounding groundstrokes (his fastest forehand came in at 107mph), as well as divine touch. He’s especially exciting when playing a steady rally and then unleashing a devastating shot, stunning his opponent with power. The variety of shots is unparalleled, with balls bouncing high, knifing low, their arcs bending like bananas. It’s a real-life highlight reel that induces crowd gasps and leaves commentators searching for superlatives. Alcaraz uses quick reactions, breakneck speed, yogi flexibility, explosive power, wicked spin and good hands to conjure up a type of tennis we’ve never seen before.

Perhaps the most lethal element in his vast range of weaponry is also the softest: his drop shot. A good drop shot means hitting a delicate, usually backspun ball that dips close to the net and almost dies on landing. As players have started to hit harder and with more spin, they’ve been pushed deeper into the court, opening up more space near the net – an area Alcaraz has exploited with soft hands and cunning disguise. His drop shots are so good that many opponents don’t even bother running for them. If they do, most of them don’t reach the ball before the second bounce, losing the point. If they somehow scrape the ball up, Alcaraz is there at the net, poised to knock it away for an easy win. People have always hit drop shots, but Alcaraz hits them in ways and numbers never seen before, completely changing the game.

His drop shots have left even the best movers, including Novak Djokovic, looking flat-footed. If you play tennis, you’ll know there’s something particularly humiliating about being beaten by one: you look slow and foolish; you know you’re being toyed with.

Traditionally Spanish players stood deep behind the baseline, hitting high balls with heavy topspin, grinding down their opponents over long rallies on the slower red clay courts they grow up on. Alcaraz can do this too, but his style is more attacking, adventurous and ingenious. You sometimes see him laughing at – and even apologising for – his outrageously good shots. Early in his career, comparisons were made to the legendary Rafael Nadal, largely because they’re both Spanish and because Nadal’s retirement vacuum needed filling. But as much as Alcaraz admires Nadal, he’s always said his hero was Roger Federer, a player known for his finesse and sublime shot-making. It shows. He has that same pantherine movement and embarrassment of talent.

After Djokovic lost to Alcaraz in the epic five-set match in the Wimbledon final in 2023, he insisted that Alcaraz was even better than Federer. “People have been talking in the past 12 months or so about his game consisting of certain elements from Roger, Rafa and myself,” Djokovic told a press conference after the final. “I would agree with that. I think he’s got basically the best of all three worlds… I haven’t played a player like him ever, to be honest.” Alcaraz has the skills of Federer, the fight of Nadal and the trademark sliding backhand that defined Djokovic’s success. As the golden era of these GOATs comes to an end, Alcaraz has arrived in perfect time, with an electric and exuberant form of total tennis that might well outdo them all.

“Every time that I can, I come back home,” says Alcaraz, with the sweet feeling of a local hero. “We don’t have too much time after tournaments, but I really like touching a little bit home, seeing my friends, seeing my family.” His English is vastly improved since his early victory speeches at the US Open and Wimbledon, but there’s still some occasional charming Spanglish. “Being here for a month, for me, is huge. For me, it’s wow! Back home you realise everything: what you love, what you need that’s important.”

The club oozes childhood nostalgia, even if you’ve never made any memories here. It’s less snobby tennis club, more Spanish holiday camp, with swimming pools, a basketball court and a friendly cafeteria offering a kids’ menú del día (chicken nuggets and chips today) and a freezer full of Wall’s ice creams.

Carlos Alcaraz Sr. props up the long cafe counter, chatting with his friends, who are all dressed in the navy puffa gilets so popular in Spain. Next to him there’s a life-size cardboard cutout of his son advertising tender local ham from the company ElPozo. Carlos Sr. first gave Carlitos a tennis racket when he was just four years old, and soon he was playing every day until it was too dark to see. “I felt at peace when I was here,” the younger Alcaraz says, smiling as he talks, as he usually does. “I didn’t think about anything other than having fun and playing tennis, being with my friends. That was my every day.”

You can imagine endless summers of tennis, splashes in the pool, Orangina and ice cream. “Almost,” he says, halting any such dreamy vision. “I had no time to go to the restaurant. I was so focused on playing tennis on the court, so there were some days that I didn’t step into the restaurant. I just got to drink water, and that’s it. It feels like I had no time for anything else.” Even now, with the stakes so high, happiness is at the heart of Alcaraz’s whole tennis/life philosophy. “I always loved playing. For me, it’s not about being serious on court. I always think that it is a joy; it is fun.” It’s an approach instilled in him by his team, led by coach Juan Carlos Ferrero, a former world number one and winner of the 2003 French Open.

Ferrero has a hovering, sensei energy. He became Alcaraz’s coach after watching him as a 15-year-old at his own JC Ferrero Challenger tournament in Villena, Spain, where Alcaraz was the youngest person ever to win a match on the men’s pro tour. Just three years later, Alcaraz sent shock waves through the tennis world when he beat Nadal and Djokovic to win the 2022 Madrid Open only days after his 19th birthday. A few months after that, he was world number one. Ferrero has instilled a firm sense of respect and hard work in Alcaraz. “I had a lot of things to improve, to learn, on court, off the court as well,” he says. “I was a little kid mentally, but step by step I realised what I had to do to get better in my career. I learnt how to be. If you’re a disaster off the court, it’s going to be the same on court.”

Like most sportspeople, Alcaraz glows in real life – something to do with only ever consuming healthy things and exercising for hours every day. This year, it feels like he’s moved from being a boy to a young man. His body has been developed and perfected by his fitness trainer Juanjo Moreno. Since tennis is more of a leg game (all that court coverage and shot power comes from the body’s base), his calves, thighs and glutes are rock-solid, and a fixture of many lustful fan accounts. His arms are muscular too, though, and he flexes them in sleeveless tops just like Nadal did before him. Unlike many tennis players who become pigeon-chested and slightly hunchbacked from the form required for their shots, Alcaraz’s upper body is well sculpted, his posture like a matador’s. He varies his hairstyle from old-school Spanish side-parted to a buzz-cut crop. The latter makes that thirsty fanbase go extra wild. One thing that never shows up on screen (perhaps due to the shadow cast by his heavy brow) is the startling amber of his eyes

Alcaraz wears Nike kits on the court, and off it he ventures into their more limited-edition pieces, like the pastel-coloured furry Dunks he’s wearing today – a collaboration with the Japanese designer Verdy. His personal style echoes Pharrell Williams’s early Billionaire Boys Club, which is funny, because Alcaraz is now an ambassador for Louis Vuitton, where Pharrell is the men’s creative director. He’s featured in their campaigns, but he’s not made it to a Vuitton fashion show yet (they always clash with his tournament schedule), nor has he met Pharrell, although he did get a big congratulations from him after winning Wimbledon. Before Vuitton, Alcaraz caused a sensation when he hit billboards in a tiny pair of briefs as the face and body of Calvin Klein underwear. Sports stars are more important to fashion houses than ever, providing a built-in mega fanbase and offering a more wholesome, less scandal-prone opportunity than unruly entertainers.

Constantly travelling must play havoc with your wardrobe. If you watched Netflix’s tennis documentary ‘Break Point’, you’ll have seen Italian pin-up Matteo Berrettini’s appallingly messy hotel rooms, suitcases exploding everywhere. Alcaraz sounds far more organised. “I’m travelling with two big bags, and I always love to bring at least four sneakers to change every day and match them with a good outfit,” he says. We’ll find out more about the inner workings of his tour life later this year when Netflix releases an Alcaraz docuseries that is sure to propel him yet further into the public consciousness and fans’ hearts.

Apart from the heightened excitement of the tennis itself, life on the road can be dull and repetitive, as players head to the same tournaments year in, year out. “I try to think that I’m not there for a tennis tournament, and that I’m there to have fun as well. Sometimes it’s annoying and tough travelling the whole year to the same places.” His favourite time of year is during the clay court season in southern Europe, from April to June. Like hard courts for Americans, or traditionally grass for British players (although less and less), clay is the surface most Spanish players grow up playing on, so it feels natural to him. Plus, there’s the familiarity of Europe, and he’s geographically and psychologically nearer to home in Murcia.

His mind is trained on how to take Sinner down. He seems almost shocked by the Italian’s improvement last year. Where did Sinner suddenly find this new level of power in his shots? “I don’t know, honestly.” Two years ago they were on different planes, but Sinner has improved dramatically. “Right now, it is crazy how he moves, how he hits the ball. He improved a lot, mentally as well. It feels like he plays all the points at the same level, and he doesn’t let you get into the match or get good rhythm. He’s always pushing you to the limit, hitting winners, and that’s tough to play against.”

Rivalries create a dynamic whereby competitors start to live in each other’s heads. “Obviously I practise just to get better, because I have a lot of things to improve, but a lot of times I’m thinking, ‘How can I be better to beat Jannik and give him problems?’ That’s the beauty of our rivalry: to think about ourselves and think about the other, just to be better.”

But while he’s keen to topple Sinner, it’s against Djokovic that Alcaraz has been having his toughest and highest-profile matches. So who does he see as his biggest rival right now? “It probably could be Djokovic right now, because I played against him in two Grand Slam finals, the Olympic Games final, semifinal of Madrid, semifinal of Roland-Garros, final of Masters 1000. It’s not about the number of times that I played against him, it’s about where I played him. It’s been a really good rivalry. A lot of people talk about Sinner because we share the same age, and how it’s going to be the future for us. But I’m going to say right now, it is Djokovic.”

Their five-set Wimbledon final in 2023 was one of the greatest matches ever played, lasting just under five hours and full of drama and shifting dominance. Djokovic seemed stunned that Alcaraz kept finding answers and new ways to win, especially since it was only his fourth time playing a tournament on grass. In a repeat final last year, Alcaraz dismantled Djokovic in straight sets, but he was ever humble in the winning speech, claiming “I don’t consider myself a champion yet,” much to the crowd’s amusement. But Djokovic has managed to claw things back, eternal battler that he is. He played out of his skin to beat Alcaraz to Olympic gold in Paris last year, and again raised his game to win that quarterfinal in Australia in January.

Djokovic’s late career surge and Sinner’s vast improvement are largely down to one thing: Alcaraz himself. The levels he started to hit two years ago were a wake-up call for the men at the top of the sport. If they wanted to win, they were going to have to considerably raise their games. And they have. Now, though, you can feel Alcaraz plotting to go even further. And there’s every likelihood he can: when he won the 2022 US Open, Juan Carlos Ferrero said that Alcaraz was only playing at “60 per cent” of his real potential.

So what’s the difference between playing against his two biggest rivals? “When you’re playing against Djokovic you’re playing against yourself in a certain way, because you have to deal with the nerves, playing against someone that is one of the best in history. The game that he has is unbelievable, but it feels like you can put your own style on the match. I feel a little bit different when I’m playing against Jannik. If I don’t play my 100 per cent every ball, every point, it is going to be almost impossible, because his style of play is huge.”

With Sinner ascendant and no signs of Djokovic’s retirement, Alcaraz needs to figure out how to keep beating them to get back to number one. But sport is never static, and you must always be alert to new threats. Youngsters like Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard, Jakub Menšík and Joao Fonseca are major emerging talents, and Alcaraz has tabs on them all. “I tell my team, ‘Be careful with this one, he’s playing great lately.’ I love following all the results and watching all the matches. We put an eye on everyone. I’m not going to talk about the top one, but Flavio Cobolli had a really great year.”

When asked by a reporter at this year’s Australian Open what advice he would give these younger players, Alcaraz started to offer some up, then caught himself and laughed. “I’m talking like I’m 30 years old! I’m just two years older than them. So what advice? Not beat me, I guess!” It’s understandable that he’s already treated like a legend, since he turned professional at just 15 years old and already has 17 titles to his name. He’s one of those rare talents who climb to the summit of their sport whilst still a teen.

In her recent ESPN documentary, Serena Williams (who won her first Grand Slam at the age of 17) talks about how head-spinning those early years of fame are. Alcaraz struggled to adapt after winning the US Open and becoming world number one as a teenager, feeling weird in the spotlight and having to readjust his goals. He’s found his balance again, though. “I know how to deal with it, and now I’m okay. My friends and mostly my family kept my feet on the ground. For me, it’s really helpful to have that quality time with people who don’t think that I’m a tennis player. Every time that I come here to Murcia, it’s like I’m a normal guy.”