Alcaraz, who will have a new career-high ranking of number six on the Associated Tennis Press Tour beginning Monday, began turning heads in February after defeating Matteo Berrettini, Fabio Fognini, and Diego Schwartzmann on the way to winning the Rio Open.
Alcaraz has continued his form since then, taking out Great Britain’s Cameron Norrie, Spanish countryman Roberto Bautista-Agut, and French veteran Gael Monfils before being defeated by Rafael Nadal in the semi-finals of the Masters 1000 California event, the Indian Wells Open.
After requiring more than 3 hours to defeat No. 1 Djokovic, Carlos Alcaraz takes just over an hour to beat Alexander Zverev 6-3, 6-1 in the final of the Madrid Open
Titles in Miami, Barcelona & Madrid
A superstar is born#getty pic.twitter.com/lSrXlTkpsb
— Christopher Clarey 🇺🇸 🇫🇷 🇪🇸 (@christophclarey) May 8, 2022
Alcaraz then continued to dominate the tour, winning his first Masters 1000 title at the Miami Open, knocking out Stefanos Tsitsipas, Hubert Hurkacz, and eventually Casper Ruud in the finals.
However, none of that compares to Alcaraz’s incredible week in Madrid.
In just three days, the Spanish teenager knocked off the greatest clay-court player in men’s tennis history, Rafael Nadal, world number one Novak Djokovic, and German superstar Alexander ‘Sascha’ Zverev in Sunday’s final to win his second Masters 1000 title of the season.
By winning the Mutual Madrid Open, Alcaraz became just the sixth player in the Open Era on the men’s tour to start their ATP Tour finals career with a perfect record of 5-0.
New World No. 6 @AlcarazCarlos03 becomes 6th man in Open Era to start career 5-0 in finals.
Ernests Gulbis 6-0 (now 6-1)
Martin Klizan 6-0 (finished 6-1)
Carlos Alcaraz 5-0
Thomas Enqvist 5-0 (finished 19-7)
Andrei Medvedev 5-0 (finished 11-7)
Sjeng Schalken 5-0 (finished 9-3)— ATP Media Info (@ATPMediaInfo) May 8, 2022
Alcaraz joins Ernest Gulbis, Martin Klizan, Sjeng Schalken, Thomas Enqvist, and Andrei Medvedev as the only other player to ever accomplish this feat, putting the world number six in very distinguished company.
