2003–present
Carlos Alcaraz News: Tennis Player Returns to No. 1 with U.S. Open Title
Carlos Alcaraz officially needed 2 hours and 42 minutes to defeat top-ranked Jannik Sinner at the U.S Open for his sixth Grand Slam title. In reality, his victory on September 7 was weeks in the making.
The 22-year-old and his coaches pored over film from his Wimbledon final in July against Sinner, who beat the Spaniard in four sets. With the right adjustments, Alcaraz reversed that result Sunday with a 6-2, 3-6, 6-1, 6-4 win over his Italian rival at New York City’s Flushing Meadows.
The win also returned Alcaraz to No. 1 in the ATP men’s singles ranking—ending Sinner’s 65-week run at the top spot.
“I just thought about the specific things I want to improve if I want to beat Jannik,” Alcaraz explained after the match. “So, I just spent two weeks before [the Cincinnati Open in August] just practicing specific some things about my game that I need or I felt like I need to improve if I want to beat Jannik.”
He later shared, “I think today worked really well. I did everything they told me that I had to do, and it worked. It worked pretty well.”
Alcaraz won the French Open earlier this year and, despite his young age, has more major titles than any other active men’s player except one. His six Grand Slam titles pale in comparison to Novak Djokovic’s 24 victories.
Who Is Carlos Alcaraz?
Spanish tennis star Carlos Alcaraz is a six-time Grand Slam tournament winner and Olympic silver medalist. A child prodigy on the court, Alcaraz signed with sports agency IMG at age 12 and made his main draw professional debut at age 16. Two years later, he won his first ATP tournament on his way to becoming the youngest men’s singles player to be ranked No. 1 in the world at age 19. As of September 2025, Alcaraz has won 23 career ATP Tour titles and more than $53 million in prize money.
Quick Facts
FULL NAME: Carlos Alcaraz Garfia
BORN: May 5, 2003
BIRTHPLACE: El Palmar, Spain
ASTROLOGICAL SIGN: Taurus
HEIGHT: 6 ft.
Early Life
Carlos Alcaraz Garfia was born on May 5, 2003, in El Palmar, a populous village just outside the Spanish city of Murcia. His father, Carlos Alcaraz González, is a tennis director at a club in El Palmar, while his mother, Virginia Garfia Escandon, is a former shop assistant at IKEA. Alcaraz is the second of the couple’s four sons. His older brother is Álvaro, and his younger brothers are Sergio and Jaime.
Even as a professional, Alcaraz maintains a close relationship with his family. He told The Sunday Times in June 2024 he still lives with his mother, father, and three brothers in El Parmar when he isn’t away for tennis tournaments. “To them I am not a big tennis star, just a normal guy,” he said. Jaime is also an emerging tennis player who recently competed at the prestigious Les Petits As youth tournament at age 13.
Alcaraz described his family as “medium-class” and didn’t have many luxuries growing up. Still, he was largely happy because of his interest in tennis. He began playing at age 4 in his father’s tennis academy at the Real Sociedad Club de Campo in Murcia but, by his own admission, couldn’t hold a racket or hit the ball. He also picked up the shorthand nickname “Carlitos” that he still prefers today.
Alcaraz continued practicing with his coaches and youth program and quickly improved. After all, he was determined to follow in the footsteps of his tennis idol: fellow Spaniard and 22-time Grand Slam champion Rafael Nadal.
Although Alcaraz developed his passion for the sport because his father, Carlos Sr. largely kept a hands-off role in his son’s developing career. “He always wanted to respect, you know, the… let’s say the father role. He never wanted to mix, you know, father and tennis coach,” Alcaraz said. “So, he always wanted to be separate, which is pretty good. And I think it helped me a lot.”
Tennis Career
When Alcaraz was 11, his play on the Nike Junior Tour drew the attention of Alfred Molina, a sports agent for global management company IMG. “I remember him as a skinny kid who did a lot of things well,” Molina recalled. “I was following him a lot, and I tried to convince his parents to work with me. I knew I could help them with everything they needed in the development and progress of their son.” After eight months of negotiating, Alcaraz’s mother and father finally agreed to the offer.
Molina helped his young client attract a racket sponsor and clothing partnership, allowing Alcaraz to travel to junior tournaments. Shortly after Alcaraz turned 15, Molina paired him with coach Juan Carlos Ferrero, the 2003 French Open champion and former world No. 1 singles player. Alcaraz began splitting time between Murcia and Villena, where he trained at Ferrero’s Equelite academy.
The partnership proved fruitful. Alcaraz competed in International Tennis Federation junior tournaments through 2020, achieving a peak ranking of No. 22. He also developed his signature forehand drop shot that leaves many opponents rushing toward the net to reach it. (Ferrero remains Alcaraz’s coach today, and the tennis star added Samuel Lopez to his coaching team in 2024.)
Pro Debut
Despite his young age, 16-year-old Alcaraz was ready to tackle the pro ranks. He made his main draw ATP tournament debut at the Rio Open in February 2020 and won his first-round match against Albert Ramos-Viñolas. Within a year, Alcaraz repeated the feat at his first major tournament, the Australian Open.
In July 2021—not long after eclipsing the top 100 in the world ranking—Alcaraz achieved his first ATP tournament win at the Croatia Open. The 18-year-old was the youngest Spanish player to win at the level since his idol Rafael Nadal in 2004. Come the 2021 U.S. Open later that summer, Alcaraz reached the fifth round, making him the event’s youngest quarterfinalist since 1963.
Grand Slam Wins and Historic No. 1 Ranking
No longer under anyone’s radar, Alcaraz continued his rapid ascent in 2022 with victories at the Rio Open, Miami Open, and Madrid Open. At the latter, he defeated three of the world’s top five players at the time—Nadal (No. 4), Novak Djokovic (No. 1), and Alexander Zverev (No. 3)—in consecutive rounds.
That August, Alcaraz entered the U.S. Open as the No. 3 seed and again reached the quarters. This time, he kept winning and defeated Jannik Sinner, Frances Tiafoe, and eventually fifth seed Casper Ruud in the final to earn his first Grand Slam title. With the victory, 19-year-old Alcaraz became the youngest player ever to achieve the ATP world No. 1 ranking.
“This is something that I’ve dreamt of since I was a kid, you know, to be No. 1 in the world and be champion of a Grand Slam. This is something that I worked really, really hard [for],” Alcaraz said.
Injuries forced Alcaraz to lose his top ranking after 20 weeks, but he recaptured it just prior to his second Grand Slam win at Wimbledon in 2023. The following year, he won two more major titles: the French Open and Wimbledon again.
After his fifth and sixth Slams at the 2025 French Open and U.S. Open, respectively, Alcaraz has won 23 total ATP titles and returned to the No. 1 ranking as of September.
With the retirements of Roger Federer and Nadal ending the reign of the “Big Three” in men’s tennis (24-time Slam champion Djokovic notably remains in the game), the young Alcaraz is among the crop of rising stars such as current world No. 2 Sinner of Italy and Zverev of Germany.
Symbolic of the passing of the guard, Alcaraz and Djokovic have faced each other nine times, frequently in major tournaments. Djokovic holds a 5-4 overall record in their matchups, but Alcaraz has a 3-2 advantage in their Slam clashes. Djokovic prevailed at the 2023 French Open semifinal and 2025 Australian Open quarterfinal, while Alcaraz won in the 2023 and 2024 Wimbledon finals as well as the 2025 U.S. Open semifinals. Their first Wimbledon match was an instant classic, lasting five sets and nearly five hours.
“I see a lot of similarities between me and him in terms of ability to adapt and adjust to the surface. I think that’s probably his biggest trait, is that he’s got skills to play equally well on any surface and to adapt to a given opponent that particular day,” Djokovic has said of Alcaraz.
2024 Paris Olympics
The friendly rivalry between Alcaraz and Djokovic took the spotlight at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris. Seeded second in men’s singles, Alcaraz cruised through the bracket and into the gold medal match with a win over Canada’s Félix Auger-Auliassime. The 21-year-old became the youngest men’s singles finalist in history, setting up a meeting with Djokovic for the gold medal. Alcaraz and Djokovic waged a back-and-forth match lasting nearly three hours in the three-set final. Djokovic ultimately prevailed 7-6, 7-6 for the title, and Alcaraz took home the silver medal.
In addition to his singles run, Alcaraz achieved a personal dream by competing in men’s doubles with his idol Nadal. The duo lost in the quarterfinals, and Nadal announced his retirement soon after in October 2024. “It was something that I will never forget, for sure,” Alcaraz said of the experience. “I learned a lot talking to him on court, off the court as well. I think we played… great tennis in doubles, even if we are not used to playing doubles very often.”
Stats
Entering 2025, Alcaraz has won four or more ATP titles in three straight years. Here is a rundown of his full career stats as of September 8, 2025:
- Singles Record: 270-62
- Singles Titles: 23
- Grand Slam Singles Titles: 6
- Olympic Medals: 1 silver (singles)
- Career Prize Money: $53,486,628
- Weeks at No. 1 Ranking: 37
Net Worth
Alcaraz has amassed a total fortune of $50 million according to Celebrity Net Worth. For its part, Forbes estimates the tennis star is worth $48.3 million.
Sportico’s most recent list of the world’s highest paid athletes places Alcaraz 87th across all sports. He earned an estimated $40.4 million in 2024, the vast majority stemming from endorsements and public appearances. A more recent evaluation by Sportico revealed Alcaraz collected around $36 million through sponsorships and appearance fees in the 12 months ending in August 2025. That’s more than any other athlete, man or woman, in the sport.
Alcaraz has lucrative partnerships with Nike, BMW, and Rolex, among others. In January 2023, he began modeling for Calvin Klein as the face of its “Calvins or nothing” underwear campaign. Later that year, the Spaniard became a brand ambassador for luxury clothing company Louis Vuitton. “I have admired the brand for a long time, so for me the partnership is a dream come true,” Alcaraz told Esquire.
In 2024, Alcaraz used his prominent platform to start the Carlos Alcaraz Garfia Foundation, which is dedicated to improving the physical and mental health of children, as well as creating more social and economic opportunities.
Relationships and Personal Life
As of September 2025, Alcaraz is believed to be single. He was previously linked to Maria Gonzalez Gimenez, a club tennis player and lawyer also from Spain, though their relationship wasn’t confirmed.
Outside of tennis, Alcaraz is an avid chess player. Having learned the game from his grandfather as a boy, he often plays before matches and compares it to his sport. “Having to concentrate, to play against someone else, strategy—having to think ahead. I think all of that is very similar,” he told Vogue. “You have to intuit where the other player is going to send the ball, you have to move ahead of time, and try to do something that will make him uncomfortable.” In November 2023, Chess.com added Alcaraz as a virtual bot opponent for its more than 200 million online players.
In April 2025, Netflix launched the limited docuseries Carlos Alcaraz: My Way, following the tennis star’s career on and off the court.
Quotes
- Honestly, I don’t know what juniors can learn from me. Probably the joy that I’m playing with. It seems like I don’t feel the pressure any time. I play all the points in the same way. Being aggressive, having no fear of going to the net. Hitting big shots.
- I like competition. I’m a competitive guy. Always. I don’t want to lose to anything, and I guess anybody.
- I’ve always been a very talented kid. But I’ve always worked hard. Because if you’re talented and don’t make an effort you get nowhere.
- I’ve always said I’d like to be the greatest in history. But that’s a big statement, not an obsession.
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Tyler Piccotti joined the Biography.com staff as an Associate News Editor and is now the News and Culture Editor. He previously worked as a reporter and copy editor for a daily newspaper recognized by the Associated Press Sports Editors. In his current role, he shares the true stories behind your favorite movies and TV shows and profiles rising musicians, actors, and athletes. When he's not working, you can find him at the nearest amusement park or movie theater and cheering on his favorite teams.
