The 2022 US Open posters with Carlos Alcaraz’s face are all over the city. “Spectacular Awaits,” they scream.
For a young man from Murica, Spain, who ventured to Flushing for the first time last year as a largely unknown 18-year-old, that’s quite a promotion in just 12 months. A Grand Slam poster boy, and still too young to have a beer at the Emirates Sports Cafe across from Arthur Ashe Stadium.
When Alcaraz shocked No. 3 Stefanos Tsitsipas at the US Open last year and two rounds later became the youngest man to reach the quarterfinals in the Open era, people really started to pay attention. Successive rounds of Next Gen players had made occasional inroads, but ultimately failed to dislodge the Big Three—and prevent those greedy champions from continuing to dominate men’s tennis. Alcaraz seemed different.
The hype machine quickly kicked into high gear. Suddenly everyone was talking about Alcaraz, even people that didn’t follow tennis that closely. But the youngster didn’t quiver. The Spaniard’s play over the next year not only justified the early praise, it lent even more weight to growing expectations.
So far in 2022, Alcaraz has won four ATP titles, including two Masters 1000 events. In April, he became the youngest man to win the ATP 1000 Miami Open. When he won the Barcelona Open the same month, the Spaniard broke into the ATP Top 10, the youngest player to do so since Rafael Nadal (in 2005). In Madrid, another ATP Masters 1000, Alcaraz became the first to beat Novak Djokovic and Nadal back-to-back in a clay-court tournament. Alcaraz destroyed the defending champion Alexander Zverev (one of those Next Gen players we’ve been waiting to see step up and challenge the Big Three) in the final 6-3, 6-1, becoming the youngest player in the history of the ATP Tour to beat three Top-5 players in the same event.
Ahead of the 2022 US Open, Alcaraz, still only 19, had rocketed up to No. 4 in the world (he’s the No. 3 seed in Flushing). Tied with Tsitsipas at the top of the ATP Tour with 46 victories, Alcaraz has arrived.
The greats of the game don’t seem to need any more convincing. They are sanguine about Alcaraz’s potential and place in the hierarchy.
Said compatriot Nadal, the ATP leader with 22 majors and the man Alcaraz is most often compared to: “When you're young, when you are very good, the process is faster than the normal people. He is not a normal guy, like Novak was not a normal guy, like Roger was not a normal guy, probably like I was not a normal guy.”
“I don't have many doubts that he will be great,” Nadal said. “He is already, by the way.”
Djokovic also had high praise. “He’s not an up-and-coming player anymore—he’s already an established top player,” he said. “His rise to the top 10 of the world is incredible and super fast. To show that much maturity, mentally, also game-wise, for someone who is 18 years old is very, very impressive.”
“I think we all agree that he is the future of the men’s tennis, but also the present,” added the Serb.
Zverev, 25, who has yet to win a Slam, agreed. “He’s not the future of the sport anymore, he’s the right now.” “He’s something that the sport might have never seen before, he’s gonna win Grand Slams, he’s gonna be world No.1 in my opinion.”
What makes Alcaraz potentially different from all the Next Gen players that preceded him?
His game is extraordinarily well developed, and well rounded, with no real weaknesses, for his age. Dare we say even better than Nadal, Djokovic and Federer at 19? Alcaraz has raw, easy power; deft touch and disguise on drop shots; excellent volleys; incredible footspeed; and the kind of court sense and fearlessness that can’t be taught. Perhaps most importantly, he exudes maturity and confidence, and he competes nearly on par with Nadal.
The youngster’s brand of exciting, explosive tennis is magnetic. Fans are drawn to the Spaniard’s bold, athletic shotmaking and exuberance on court. Alcaraz plainly loves the game, and it shows.
"He is coming on like a freight train and it looks to me like he's only going to get better," former coach and ESPN commentator Brad Gilbert said. "Five years from now, I'd be surprised if he hasn't won at least five to seven majors."
It is entirely possible, of course, that Alcaraz ultimately wins only a couple majors, or none even. But that kind of unrealized potential truly would be much more surprising to his fellow pros and keen tennis observers than Alcaraz accumulating a whole slew of Slams.
Is Carlos Alcaraz a true heir to the Big Three? Only time will tell. Perhaps starting this weekend at the 2022 US Open.
The spectacular Carlos Alcaraz may not wait much longer.
