It is no mean feat being touted to take the baton as the next great Spaniard, but that has been Carlos Alcaraz’s reality since he first turned heads at the Juan Carlos Ferrero Academy as a teenager.
He has demonstrated his suitability on and off the court to assume the mantle following Rafael Nadal’s retirement, and he is now on the cusp of further records at Melbourne Park in January – none bigger than completing a career Grand Slam.
Already a four-time major champion, the precocious 21-year-old offers many reasons for fans to love him.
We take a look at five of them.
1. He is a humble homebody
The Spaniard’s star has ascended rapidly in the past three years, but he remains as down-to-earth and wide-grinning as when he first hit the tour in 2020 as a teenager.
Alcaraz still spends much of his time away from tour living at his family home with his parents, Carlos and Virginia, and three brothers, Alvaro, Sergio and Jaime. They’re in the small town of El Palmar, 5km from the bigger southeastern Spanish city of Murcia.
Family is hugely important to Alcaraz and he attributes it as an important factor in both his success and in remaining so grounded.
"When I finish a tournament, it doesn’t matter if I win or not, I just want to get home to be with my family," he told The Sunday Times ahead of Wimbledon this year. “To them I am not a big tennis star, just a normal guy.”
2. He can flick a switch
Tommy Paul had cause to back his chances ahead of his Wimbledon quarterfinal against Alcaraz – the reigning champion – in July. Paul had already beaten him a couple of times and arrived at the All England Club on the heels of his first grass-court trophy at the Queen’s Club.
While the American snatched the opening set, his younger foe suddenly found his spark – as the greats often managed – and orchestrated an immediate turnaround. Alcaraz eventually ran over the top of Paul in a burst of speed and aggression.
“He can play some seriously amazing, amazing tennis. Half of the job when you're out there is not to let him win one of those crazy points because when he does, he kind of gets on a roll,” Paul said.
Alcaraz had similarly flipped the script at Roland Garros a month earlier. Starting slowly and trailing two sets to one against both Jannik Sinner and Alexander Zverev, he rebounded to win that semifinal and final, respectively, in five sets.
Alcaraz also prevailed against Sinner in a high-calibre Beijing final from a set down.
3. He flies the flag for young major champions
Just when the era of teenage men’s Grand Slam champions looked to have passed given the heightened physicality of the sport, Alcaraz bucked the trend.
As a 19-year-old, he won the 2022 US Open and ended that season as the youngest year-end world No.1. Almost two years later, he became the third-youngest player – after Swedes Mats Wilander and Bjorn Borg – to win a fourth Grand Slam singles crown following his successful Wimbledon title defence in July.
The youngest to complete the Channel Slam last year – winning Roland Garros and Wimbledon back-to-back – his victory over Novak Djokovic at the All England Club also made him the youngest to collect majors on three surfaces.
“My goal at the end is to be there all the time. Every tournament that I'm going to play, at least reach the semifinal, final, give myself the chance to win the tournament,” he said.
“So I have to work. Thank God I'm young, I'm still super young, so I have – or I hope to have – many years to get there.”
4. He is warm towards his greatest rivals
Competition is fierce at the top and the jostling for bragging rights does not guarantee pleasantries between archrivals.
Arguably Alcaraz’s two greatest current rivals – Sinner and Djokovic – are at opposite ends of their careers but in a sign of the respect he commands across the board, both share good relationships with the affable Spaniard.
Alcaraz and Sinner – who divided the four majors between them in 2024 – shared a private jet to Shanghai after they contested that epic Beijing final.
“When we can, we talk a little bit besides tennis, about life a little bit,” Alcaraz said. “We have a good relationship, but we are not close friends, but I think the respect that we have puts us in a position that we have a really good relationship.”
He and Djokovic have squared off with more at stake – Alcaraz this year claimed back-to-back Wimbledon deciders, before the Serbian gained revenge in the Paris Olympics final – and the two have remained a healthy bond.
“We have a really good friendship off the court,” Alcaraz said. “We talk a lot in the locker [room] every time that we see each other around, with his team as well.”
5. He revers idol and compatriot Nadal
Alcaraz realised a childhood dream when he played doubles with his idol, Rafael Nadal, at the Paris Olympics.
He later joined the 22-time major champion’s farewell event as Davis Cup teammates on home soil in Malaga.
Inevitable parallels were drawn between the Spaniards as soon as Alcaraz emerged, but both were keen to play these down for fear of burdening the up-and-comer – even after Grand Slam titles ensued and age-related records began to crash.
“I’m lucky to be close to him, to have played doubles with him, to have practised with him, to have shared a Davis Cup team with him and the locker-room in singles tournaments – not as much as I would have liked – I wish I’d arrived on tour earlier,” Alcaraz said.
“We’ll see at the end of my career, but if it’s half of what he’s done I’ll be more than happy. I’m going to try and entertain people and leave a good legacy every day.
“It’s going to be very tough to follow what these giants have done.”