Carlos Alcaraz is enjoying some rest right now, but he will soon begin preparing for next season. The former world No. 1 can be happy with his achievements in 2024, having won two Grand Slam titles, a Masters 1000, an ATP 500 and the silver medal at the Paris Olympics over the summer.
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However, this year he showed the young Spaniard where he can still improve. The 21-year-old from Murcia has reached impressive peaks, becoming the youngest ever to win Roland Garros and Wimbledon in the same season, but ended 2024 in third place in the ATP rankings.
The 4-time Grand Slam champion is almost 5000 points behind his great rival Jannik Sinner, despite winning his own number of Major titles in 2024 and defeating him three times in as many official clashes.
This means that the former world number 1 must grow in terms of consistency, avoiding those frequent ups and downs that he has always had since the beginning of his career. In addition, Carlitos is not yet competitive enough in indoor conditions and struggles to play his best tennis in the last phase of the season.
His disappointing results at the Rolex Paris Masters and the Nitto ATP Finals in Turin allowed Sascha Zverev to overtake him in the ATP ranking. The Spaniard will be the No.3 seed at the 2025 Australian Open, which is why he could face Sinner in the semifinals.
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The world No. 3 will play an exhibition match with Ben Shelton at New York's Madison Square Garden in December and then begin training for next season.
Carlitos' schedule in 2025
The 4-time Grand Slam champion will do the preparation in Spain together with his coach Juan Carlos Ferrero and will practice with the young Briton Jack Draper for a few days.
As in previous years, the former world number 1 will not play any official tournament before the Australian Open. The AO is the only Grand Slam tournament that the Spanish ace has not yet won and his best result in Melbourne was the quarterfinals reached this year (when he was defeated by German ace Zverev in four sets).
The first Major of the season will take place from January 12-26, and Carlitos wants to become the youngest player ever to win five Grand Slam titles. After the AO, the Spaniard could play the Davis Cup from January 31 to February 2. Unlike in recent years, the 21-year-old from Murcia will not play tournaments on red clay in South America but will be present at the Rotterdam ATP 500 from 2 to 9 February.
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The feeling is that Alcaraz wants to improve his skills in indoor conditions and the Dutch tournament offers a truly exceptional entry list (world number 1 Sinner will also be present). After Rotterdam, the Spanish champion will play the Masters 1000 in Indian Wells and Miami. Alcaraz will be looking to win his third title in a row in California, while in Florida he will try to replicate the triumph in 2022.
Andy Roddick on Alcaraz and Sinner
Despite having some difficulties in 2024, Carlitos was the only player who repeatedly put Sinner in trouble. The Italian ace - who has been almost unstoppable this year - lost to Alcaraz in Indian Wells semifinal, Roland Garrossemifinaland Beijing final (in one of the best match of the entire season).
On the latest edition of his podcast, former world No. 1 Andy Roddick compared the season of these two young champions: "Jannik set the record in Turin, least amount of games ever lost in a world tour final. Putting beat downs on the best players in the world at the end of the season, all while having this case over his head. I mean running out of superlatives.
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The former American ace also added: "He is the best player in the world when there is not something slippery under his feat, and I don't know it's up for question at this point. Clay is obviously very different, grass is very different. Carlos Alcaraz has risen on those things, Carlos didn't play a full season, he was injured a bunch of the times, we are gonna go a lot more in those match ups over time. He does have the game that bothers Sinner more than anyone else on planet earth in this current moment.
The hope of fans is that the Italian and the Spaniard will finally face each other in a Grand Slam final next year. These two players are destined to make tennis history and their rivalry is reminiscent of that between Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic. Their clashes are truly spectacular and their way of interpreting tennis creates a perfect contrast of styles that modern tennis needs to grow.
