A career Grand Slam, and a new era: Why Carlos Alcaraz feels different

February 4, 2026 Oliver Obel

Carlos Alcaraz’s Australian Open victory completed a career Grand Slam and placed him in one of tennis’s most exclusive groups. It also arrived unusually early, reinforcing the sense that men’s tennis is already deep into a generational shift.

For more than a decade, the sport revolved around Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic. Alcaraz is not framed as their replacement so much as their consequence a player raised in their shadow, now capable of beating them on the biggest courts.

Still, he bristles at formality.

"I don't like being called Carlos," he said in 2022.
"Honestly, Carlos seems too serious to me, like I've done something wrong. I like Carlitos or Charlie."

That preference has followed him as expectations have grown.

Temper and talent

According to BBC reporting, Alcaraz was not an easy junior to manage. His first coach, Kiko Navarro, remembered a gifted child whose emotions regularly spilled over.

"When he was a child he broke a lot of racquets and I had to take him crying to the hotel or home," Navarro said in 2024. Alcaraz later described himself as “a bad loser.”

What grounded him was familiarity rather than distance. Tennis was part of daily life in Murcia. As Alcaraz told Vogue in 2023, his great-uncle built the local club, his father worked there, and his siblings all played. His eldest brother, Alvaro, still warms up with him on practice courts and trims his hair between tournaments.

Spotted early

IMG agent Albert Molina first noticed Alcaraz at age 11 at a Futures tournament in Murcia.

"You could already see his winning character, bravery and daring," Molina told the ATP Tour website in 2021.

Molina later introduced him to Juan Carlos Ferrero, the former world number one and 2003 French Open champion. Ferrero recalled the first impression to BBC Radio 5 Live: “I saw something different.”

Ferrero resisted the urge to simplify Alcaraz’s game. Where other coaches might have prioritised control, Ferrero encouraged freedom, believing confidence mattered more than caution at that stage.

"I always try to play happy tennis," Alcaraz wrote in TNT’s Players Voice in 2023.

Rising fast, playing loose

Alcaraz reached the ATP Tour at 16 and moved quickly. Reuters and the BBC tracked his rise from teenage outsider to major champion, culminating in his 2022 US Open title and the world number one ranking.

The same traits that fuelled his rise also invited scrutiny. Drop shots at awkward moments, sudden net charges and attempts at low-percentage winners thrilled crowds but unsettled critics, particularly when matches tightened.

Former world number one Andre Agassi captured the mix while commentating for the BBC at Wimbledon:
"It's like Alcaraz has the touch of [Roger] Federer, the court coverage of Novak and the RPMs of Nadal."

Handling pressure in public

Not every step has been forward. As reported by the BBC, Olympic disappointment, abrupt losses and visible frustration have interrupted the momentum. Alcaraz has never tried to hide those moments, even when cameras linger.

What has remained consistent is who surrounds him. Family members fill his support box. Longtime staff stay close. Even after his coaching split with Ferrero at the end of 2025, the inner circle remained largely intact.

In Melbourne, after one late-night win earlier in the tournament, Alcaraz lingered on court signing oversized tennis balls and greeting fans well past midnight a small scene, but one he has repeated across Slams.

In his Netflix documentary, he explained how he measures success.

"I want to sit at the table with the Big Three," he said.
"But from what I've experienced, I'd choose happiness over massive success.
"Because happiness is already success."

At a point when records are arriving faster than reflection, that outlook may be the clearest signal of who Carlitos intends to remain.

Sources: BBC, Reuters, Vogue, ATP Tour, TNT, Netflix