At 22, Carlos Alcaraz is already a tennis legend.
He has won seven majors, the same number as John McEnroe and one fewer than Andre Agassi and Jimmy Connors. In winning his first Australian Open title Sunday, he became the youngest man to complete the career Grand Slam by some distance.
His otherworldly talent is undeniable, as are his incredible physicality and mental strength. Worryingly for the rest of the field, he said Sunday in Spanish that he does not see himself as a legend, because it is not possible to forge such a thing in his four years on tour. To be a legend, he said, will entail showing up at the same tournaments, with the same ambition, year after year.
But what is the experience of playing Alcaraz actually like? Over the past couple of years, The Athletic has asked that question to dozens of ATP players. Speaking in news conferences unless stated, these are their experiences…
Start with Novak Djokovic, whose assessment has always been that Alcaraz possesses skills drawn from all three of the Big Three: Djokovic himself, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer. Djokovic, the greatest men’s player of all time with 24 Grand Slam titles, has played Alcaraz 10 times. Their most recent meeting was Sunday’s Australian Open final, which marked Djokovic’s third Grand Slam final defeat to Alcaraz. Their head-to-head stands at 5-5.
What most strikes Djokovic about playing Alcaraz is a quality he shares with Nadal. “He brings so much energy and intensity on the court. From that perspective, he reminds me a lot of Rafa,” Djokovic said ahead of facing Alcaraz at last year’s Australian Open. “Just such a complete player. He can hurt you from anywhere on any court on any surface. He has shown that. His versatility is amazing.”
Carlos Alcaraz’s versatility across surfaces has brought him the career Grand Slam at just 22 years old. (Clive Brunskill / Getty Images)
A common refrain from Alcaraz’s opponents is that they feel smothered. His implausible array of attacking weaponry leads them to fear either leaving the ball too short, or in the wrong place on any given shot. That fear leads to mistakes.
“I was not returning his first serve well at all,” world No. 7 Taylor Fritz said after losing to Alcaraz in the Wimbledon semifinals last year. “Part of that is because I thought he served really well. Part of that is also because I know that I can’t just make the return because he’ll just drill the ball (into the) open court, and I’ll lose the point.”
A few weeks after losing to Alcaraz in the 2024 French Open final, world No. 4 Alexander Zverev said: “If you give him time, if you give him the option to dictate the points, you’re not going to win a single point. If you’re just going to put the ball into the middle of the court and try to rally with him, you’re going to lose nine out of 10. That is what is the most impressive thing about him.
“Every chance that he gets, he’s going to take, and he’s going to take the racket out of your hands. Federer was similar.
“He also has things from Novak, things from Rafa, the high topspin balls, the sliding on any surface, that’s Novak, very much so.
“Carlos is somebody that can dictate the points like nobody else can in tennis right now.”
When Jack Draper was weighing up how to take the next step from top-15 player to something more at the end of the 2024 season, his plan was to go and train with Alcaraz in the off-season. Injury prevented that from happening, but Draper explained to a few reporters at that time why Alcaraz, and his closest rival Jannik Sinner, were his reference points on where he needed to improve.
“They’re not afraid to go after the ball when it matters,” Draper said.
“I played Alcaraz in Indian Wells a couple of years ago, and in maybe the second game, I hit a decent shot and he hit it about 100 miles an hour and he missed. But I was thinking, ‘I can’t drop the ball short anymore because this is going to go past me.’ So it’s kind of just creating that doubt within the opponent’s mind through your intent and through your mindset.”
Holger Rune, the one-time world No. 4 who played doubles with Alcaraz at a junior event when they were both 14, said it’s Alcaraz’s “brave character” that stands out. He believes that’s what has elevated Sinner and Alcaraz beyond the generation that came before them, made up of players like Zverev and Stefanos Tsitsipas.
“There are shots where you think this one maybe he should play just deep cross and he ends up hitting a winner down the line,” Rune told a couple of reporters during the HSBC Championships at the Queen’s Club last June.
Carlos Alcaraz’s ability to attack from anywhere on — or outside — the tennis court makes him such a fearsome opponent. (Clive Brunskill / Getty Images)
Before facing Alcaraz in the 2024 Wimbledon semifinal, Daniil Medvedev, a former U.S. Open champion and world No. 1, said: “With many players, you play a slow ball, you know at least you have the chance to stay in the rally. With Carlos, no. There is no chance. That’s his biggest quality in my opinion.”
After losing to Alcaraz in four sets, he added: “Hit an easy shot, you know it’s over for you. That’s what makes it tough. Probably in my career, he’s toughest opponent I have faced.”
A year on, it was Fritz who lost to Alcaraz in a four-set Wimbledon semifinal. A keen student of the game, Fritz was visibly blown away by Alcaraz’s in-game intelligence, allied with the talent to be able to implement any tactical tweaks he’s noticed he needs to make.
“A lot of the things that I would have changed I think would have only helped me for a point or two, and then I think Carlos would have just made an adjustment, and I don’t think it would have been a long-term answer,” Fritz said.
“He has so many different ways to win, and he’s very good at making adjustments. He made a huge adjustment after the second set. Third set, fourth set, he randomly would be hitting 122-, 123-mile-an-hour second serves. At the same time, hitting 85-mile-an-hour short kickers. When someone is serving that much variety on a second serve, it’s really tough to get on it and be aggressive.
“A lot of times, I know an adjustment I need to make, but maybe that’s just not my game, so it’s maybe not the best thing to do. He can do a bit of everything, and he’s good at it. He can always change it up to match what you’re doing.”
That ability to make tweaks when needed is matched by the champion’s ability to raise his level when needed. “One of the things about the top guys is the better you play and the better you hit the ball, they actually hit the ball better as well,” Ben Shelton, the world No. 9, said after losing to Alcaraz at the Laver Cup in 2024.
“With Carlos, obviously a great offensive player, a lot of weapons with the groundstrokes and the volleys, but his footwork is a weapon as well. He can extend points, counterpunch, play defense.”
Alcaraz used these skills to beat Djokovic in the Australian Open final, embracing being the more passive player and asking the 10-time champion in Melbourne to either get through him (and risk errors) or drag him off the baseline (and risk being drawn into the forecourt, where Alcaraz takes over just about any point).
Jiří Lehečka, who was unfortunate enough to play Alcaraz at probably his peak level during last year’s U.S. Open, said after their quarterfinal in New York: “I felt that every time there was an important moment, even when I tried to do everything I could, he just increased his level. He was a little bit faster. He anticipated a little bit better what I’m about to play, and he was there.”
The point about anticipation ties into a common refrain from players who face Alcaraz: He makes opponents think they have to be perfect. That leads to errors and overpressing, with countless opponents playing at or somehow above their peak for hours and coming away with nothing.
“I’m playing out of my comfort zone and at times out of my skin,” a shellshocked Alex de Minaur said after Alcaraz thrashed him in their Australian Open quarterfinal despite playing a savagely B+ level against de Minaur’s absolute top one.
“I’m probably hitting the ball bigger than I’ve hit previously in these types of matches, but I’m still not able to hit through him,” de Minaur said.
Casper Ruud, who lost to Alcaraz in the 2022 U.S. Open final said at the ATP Tour Finals two years ago: “When he’s on, he doesn’t make unforced errors, he’s almost unplayable because he’s everywhere and makes you suffer if you don’t hit basically the line.”
After their 2024 Wimbledon semifinal, Medvedev said: “I remember there was particular one, I hit a good smash, and he still made it. I had a very easy volley, but I overplayed it just a little bit. You are always questioning, ‘What’s the best shot, do I go almost for the line or not?’”
Flavio Cobolli, who has spent pre-seasons training with Alcaraz, said during an interview in 2024 that he feels like he “can’t make a winner against him because he is everywhere in the court.”
The numbers bear all this out. Year after year, Alcaraz is top of the charts for steal points — points won having been in defense.
Lorenzo Musetti, who twice pushed himself beyond his physical limit in matches against Alcaraz last spring and either had to retire or stagger toward the finish line, said after their French Open semifinal in June that: “I knew it even before stepping on court that I had to play probably the best match of my career so far.”
Sinner, Alcaraz’s greatest rival, said during last year’s Australian Open that there’s “more tension” when facing the Spaniard.
Carlos Alcaraz’s explosive forehand rushes opponents and helps him control points. (Martin Keep / AFP via Getty Images)
Fans are accustomed to Alcaraz’s Cheshire Cat grin when he does something spectacular, but it is important not to obscure his sadistic streak. Like with his underrated tactical acumen, he knows how to hone in on an opponent’s weakness.
“Today he exposed… I hit my forehand terribly today, and he saw that early,” the American world No. 22 Tommy Paul said, after losing to Alcaraz in the Australian Open fourth round last month. “He was trying to get in that forehand-to-forehand rally, and he did it much better than I did.
“He kind of suffocates you in a way. He makes you feel like you have no time. He rushes you.”
At last year’s Wimbledon, Fritz said: “When he whips his forehand cross, there’s a lot of movement away, which is difficult. Jannik is more through the court.
“For me personally, I’d rather probably deal with the flat one than the ball that’s working away from me. They both generate a lot of raw power. But I think for me it’s a little more uncomfortable to play Carlos just because of the unpredictability of what he’s going to do.”
“I play a lot off of anticipation,” Fritz said. “You never know when Carlos might just hit like a short kicker and serve and volley on like a 15-30 or something like that, which I feel like if I’m playing Jannik, that’s something that’s probably not going to happen.
“I’m incredibly impressed with how good his touch is around the net. Pressure points, big points, he’s making just like serve and volley, little touch volleys. It looks like he’s never going to miss it and like he can do it all day. It’s not easy to hit those kind of delicate shots under pressure. That’s really impressive.”
And players know that if he does bring in his touch game and starts playing more creative tennis, that could lead to one of those points when he puts his finger to his ear and the crowd go wild.
For opponents, that can feel like the tennis equivalent of a thumbs-down from a Roman emperor.
“When he starts building energy and building momentum, it feels a little bit different than most of the other guys,” Paul said after losing to Alcaraz at Wimbledon two years ago. “He can play some seriously amazing, amazing tennis.
“Half of the job when you’re out there is not to let him win one of those crazy points because when he does, he kind of gets on a roll.”
This creates another oxymoron for Alcaraz’s opponents: It is possible to put him under too much pressure, because he is so brilliant at escaping it in improbable ways. He has also not rested on his almost peerless tennis laurels, tinkering and adjusting to remove weaknesses from his game.
This is particularly apparent in his serve, which has gone from a point-starter lacking the ability to earn cheap points, to a huge pressure-release for when Alcaraz is under stress and another piece of heavy artillery when he is out in front.
“I think for a long time people said his serve was one of the weaker parts of his game,” Fritz said. “There’s zero weakness with his serve the way he is serving today. He’s hitting all the spots. He’s serving the same serve speeds as me throughout the entire match. Really impressed with how much he’s improved his serve.”
“There are very few weaknesses in his game, so that’s the most difficult part,” Ruud said at Wimbledon in 2024. “To me, he has every shot in the book.
“It’s difficult because there’s no side where you can rest. From the backhand, he can hit beautiful winners and drop shots. From the forehand, he can do the same. He is so bloody quick, so it’s not easy to hit winners on him either.
Carlos Alcaraz’s gossamer drop shots help him keep his opponents off-balance. (Tim Clayton / Getty Images)
Ethan Quinn, a quickly improving American ranked No. 68, played Alcaraz at the Barcelona Open last year, and was struck by how well he returned. Alcaraz’s return perhaps goes under the radar, but his first-serve return especially is a huge weapon. It shackles players who need free points, and can hammer their confidence when they keep losing points behind their strongest shot.
“He was hitting his returns in the same location over and over and over again,” Quinn said in a video interview last month.
“The speed, the precision, the heaviness of the ball, the height over the net. There’s just so many different components that you’re just like, ‘Wow, how does he do this every single time?’ And then you realise that that’s why he’s No. 1 in the world.
Shelton and Paul referenced his phenomenal speed, while Frances Tiafoe echoed this and told a few reporters at Wimbledon two years ago that “he’s one of the best competitors you’ve ever seen.”
Then there’s the durability, which has helped him to a 15-1 record in fifth sets, and the Nadal-like physicality.
Zverev, who has twice lost to Alcaraz in five sets — including in the Australian Open semifinal last week — said after the five-set French Open final two years ago: “We’re both physically strong, but he’s a beast. He’s an animal, for sure. The intensity he plays tennis at is different to other people. He can do so many different things.”
The Australian Li Tu admitted to being in awe of Alcaraz’s physique when they met at the U.S. Open eighteen months ago. “I’m not gonna lie, I saw him in his jacket and I was like, ‘OK.’ Then we go to the coin toss, and he took his jacket off, and I was like, ‘Dude, this guy is a specimen, this guy is a beast!’, like I just couldn’t stop looking at his shoulder definition, and the veins,” Li said on ESPN. “And the forehand, he has some serious weaponry.”
As for the man himself, it’s his variety that he thinks is the biggest challenge to opponents. “I think I’m always pushing my opponents to the limit,” he said ahead of the 2024 U.S. Open. “The worst thing for my opponent, they are not going to know what’s gonna be next. They have to be aggressive. They have to defend well if they want to be alive in the point.”
Having won three out of the past four Slams, and having reached the final of the other, there is no tougher task in men’s tennis right now than beating Alcaraz over five sets.
