Carlos Alcaraz has just led Team Europe to a successful Laver Cup against Team World, preventing the team led by John McEnroe from winning this event for the third time in a row. After the difficulties of last month - culminating in the shocking elimination in the second round of the US Open - the Spanish ace seems to have found the best feelings and is ready to give it all in the last part of the season.
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Despite having had his ups and downs again this year, Carlitos won two Grand Slam titles in 2024 and a silver medal at the Paris Olympics. As if that were not enough, the 21-year-old from Murcia has won the Masters 1000 in Indian Wells for the second time in a row. The four-time Grand Slam champion dreamed of winning the gold medal for his country, but he had to give up on a glittering version of Novak Djokovic on the iconic Philippe Chatrier. The former world number 1 will not have to defend many points in the last part of the season, but will have to show improvements on indoor hard courts compared to last year.
The current world number 3 is more than 4000 points away from Jannik Sinner in the ATP ranking and he will need to be more consistent in 2025 if it wants to surpass him. The Italian ace was super regular this year with a record of 55 wins against only 5 losses. Alcaraz will be one of the main protagonists of the ATP 500 in Beijing, which starts on September 26th. Last year, the young Spanish champion was defeated by Sinner in the semi-finals. This year, the match between the Spanish champion and the Italian ace will only take place in the final due to the forfeit of Sascha Zverev.
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Carlitos' path
This is the potential path of Carlitos in Beijing: he will face Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard in the first round, then he could face Tallon Griekspoor (or Miomir Kecmanovic), Karen Khachanov in the quarter-finals, Daniil Medvedev in the semifinals and Jannik Sinner in the final.
During the 2024 Laver Cup, the former World No.1 took a shot at the current ATP schedule: "Probably they are going to kill us in some way. Right now a lot of good players are going to miss a lot of tournaments because of that injury. Sometimes, you don't want to go to a tournament. I'm not going to lie I have felt this way a few times already. Sometimes I don't feel motivated at all. But as I've said many, many times, I play my best tennis when I smile and enjoy it on court. That's the best option to keep motivating myself."
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He also spoke about his rivalry with Sinner: Well a lot of people talk about it and I hear it. Im not going to lie, I hope so. I hope that our rivalry is going to be or almost be like the Big Three had during their whole careers. So lets see how its going to be in the future, the next few years, if we are going to stay like that at this level. I think we are going to build or create a relationship off the court as well.
So hopefully I have him here on the tour for a long time because he pushes me to be a better player every day. He pushes me to practice at 100% just to try to beat him in the next matches. Its great and hopefully well have that rivalry that the Big Three had in their careers.
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The rivalry with Sinner
The Spanish ace and the Italian champion have already faced each other nine times in the ATP tour, although we have not yet seen a Grand Slam final between them.Carlitos prevailed in both matches played in 2024, at Indian Wells and the French Open respectively. The two young champions will also be protagonists at the Davis Cup Finals in Malaga in November and fans are looking forward to seeing a clash between them.
Speaking with LEquipe, ATP legend Yannick Noah talked about Alcaraz: Carlitos (Alcaraz), I dont know him, I saw him from afar in Roland Garros, just hello what! While there it was: Hey captain, how are you? Were gonna have fun next year! (Hows it going? Well laugh next year!) A link has been created and that alone is important. The idea is that we meet from time to time, I will go see them in Roland, spend with them as long as they want, without pressure, and at the US Open too. Im going to try to bring a little joy, relax everybody a little bit, thats the point.
