Alcaraz has not swung a racket in a tour match for three months. On Thursday he was still the loudest thing in tennis, and it was because of his hair.
The Spaniard posted a batch of Instagram photos captioned simply “July ☀️”, showing him with tight cornrow braids running the full length of his scalp.
Within hours the comments section had turned into an ATP reunion, with fellow players piling in and fans splitting hard on whether the look worked.
Blame Sinner, said the internet
The pile-on had a theme. Asked about Alcaraz’s shaved head at the 2025 US Open, Jannik Sinner had produced a throwaway compliment about how “everything looks good on him”.
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That line has been dragged back up, and one fan account spoke for a big chunk of tennis Twitter: “this is all Jannik Sinner’s fault for saying that everything suits him bc since he said that Carlos has been testing the limits of that statement in every possible way.”
Cucurella got there first
The other Spaniard in the story is not from tennis.
Chelsea’s Marc Cucurella has spent much of the summer in braids of his own, and he dropped straight into the comments with “Trencitas de fantasía”, or fantasy braids, as reported by AOL. Matteo Berrettini went with “Vaya haircut” and Zizou Bergs called it “Badass hair”.
The parallel with Cucurella was not subtle. The Spanish Eye pointed out that Alcaraz posted a comparable style only hours after the Chelsea left-back’s braids had made the rounds, prompting speculation that the tennis player had taken his cue from the footballer.
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The fans who wanted it deleted
Not every reaction was warm. One follower told him bluntly, “Carlos delete that dump im being so serious”, according to Yahoo Sports.
Others reached for Arthur Fils, whose own braids have become a tour signature.
The noise is landing at a strange moment. The right wrist tenosynovitis Alcaraz picked up at the Barcelona Open in April cost him Madrid, Roland Garros and Wimbledon, and he has already pulled out of the National Bank Open in Montreal. Cincinnati in August is the target for his return, before the US Open opens at Flushing Meadows.
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