Carlos Alcaraz failed to win his third title in a row at Indian Wells, showing that he is still far from solving his current weaknesses. Despite working hard together with his team during the off-season, the Spaniard's start to 2025 has been marked by the usual ups and downs.
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The former world No.1 started the season directly at the Australian Open, where he reached the quarterfinals by losing in four sets to Serbian legend Novak Djokovic in a match in which he could certainly have done more.
The 21-year-old from Murcia won his first title in four months in February, when he prevailed at the Rotterdam ATP 500 in indoor conditions despite not playing his best tennis for most of the week.
The 4-time Grand Slam champion had hoped to triumph at the Doha ATP 500 as well taking advantage of the absence of his top rival Jannik Sinner but his run in Qatar ended against Jiri Lehecka in the quarterfinals. The world No. 3 had a break lead in the third set, before suffering a streak of four consecutive games by the Czech ace.
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In the first Masters 1000 of the season the 'BNP Paribas Open' in Indian Wells Carlitos was practically perfect until the semifinals, where he put in a very disappointing performance against Jack Draper.
The young Briton who lifted the trophy yesterday took advantage of the Spaniard's ups and downs to claim the most prestigious victory of his career so far.
Henman believes in Alcaraz
If he does not improve from the point of view of consistency, it will be very hard for Alcaraz to dethrone Sinner in the near future.
The Italian ace has been unstoppable in the last twelve months and has won only one Grand Slam and one Masters 1000 less than Carlos (who had started with a considerable advantage).
Despite Jannik's meteoric growth over the past year and a half, British legend Tim Henman is still convinced that Alcaraz will win more Major titles than Sinner at the end of their careers.
