Teenage sensation Carlos Alcaraz continued his meteoric rise to the top of the men’s tennis world with Sunday’s home-soil victory at the Madrid Open.
En route to the title — the Spaniard’s ATP Tour-leading fourth championship in 2022 — the 19-year-old burned through the sport’s giants, defeating World No. 4 Rafael Nadal in the quarterfinals, No. 1 Novak Djokovic in the semis, and No. 3 Alexander Zverev in the final.
Alcaraz’s breakout season has lifted him to a career-high No. 6 world ranking and made him arguably the best men’s player on the planet.
- He is the 2022 ATP Tour’s money leader with $3.7M in earnings, raising his career total to $5.5M.
- Starting the year ranked 32nd in the world, Alcaraz became the youngest to break into the Top 20 since Andrei Medvedev in 1993 and youngest to crack the Top 10 since Nadal in 2005.
- Alcaraz is the only player to eliminate both Nadal and Djokovic at the same clay-court tournament.
- He leads the Tour with 28 victories and has won seven matches in a row against Top 10 opponents.
The next major milestone for Alcaraz will be a Grand Slam title. He has played in five, making it as far as the 2021 U.S. Open quarterfinals.
The sixth time could be the charm at this week’s French Open: Alcaraz has the second-best odds (+200) to win at Roland-Garros, behind 13-time winner Nadal (+175).
