INDIAN WELLS — Carlos Alcaraz is the kind of guy you’d want to bring home – to your kids.
Or, for the next week, the type of kid you’d want to bring your kids to watch as he sets about dismantling the field at the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells Tennis Garden, starting Saturday, when he defeated Australian Thanasi Kokkinakis 6-3, 6-3 beneath the bright lights in Stadium 1.
In the hour preceding Alcaraz’s 2023 debut at the tournament Saturday, the 19-year-old’s name was on the lips of fans throughout the grounds – regardless of what language they spoke, a fan favorite for all the right reasons.
It’s not only his derring do and all those indomitable drop shots. Not just his court-expanding savvy and his good-luck-getting-much-past-him speed. Not the fact that he’s the top seed here.
It’s not even really all the history he’s rewritten.
How, by winning last year’s U.S. Open, the Spanish teen became the youngest men’s tennis player ranked No. 1 – at just 19 years, 4 months and 6 days old.
That was a highlight in the phenom’s phenomenal 2022, which included his stop in Indian Wells, where he arrived last year having just cracked the top 20 in the singles rankings.
On the hard courts in the Southern California desert, Alcaraz teased what was to come by reaching his first Masters 1000 quarterfinal and semifinal, beating defending champ Cameron Norrie before losing to his tennis hero, Rafael Nadal.
There are few things as spellbinding as potential, but last year Alcaraz accelerated past promise, fast-forwarded and brought us face to face with the future of the game at a time when tennis was saying goodbye to stalwarts, Roger Federer and Serena Williams.
Alcaraz’s arrival has included seven ATP victories (and more than $12 million in prize money). It’s also included his claim as the youngest men’s champion in the histories of the Miami Open and Mutua Madrid Open – where he swept the top three seeds in succession to win, including becoming the first player to get past king of clay Nadal and 20-time Grand Slam champion Djokovic, back to back.
Pretty, pretty good.
But what makes it all really, really cool is how Alcaraz goes about pursuing victory – like CIF encourages its high school athletes to do it: With honor.
There it was, his extreme sportsmanship rearing its idealistic head, in the third round at Wimbledon, when he gave the point to his German opponent Oscar Otte after Alcaraz mid-rally volley touched the sideline during the second set.
Otte chased the ball and hit a winner with his forehand, but a line judge incorrectly called Alcaraz’s shot out. When that was overruled by the chair umpire, it meant the point had to be replayed because, technically, it could have impacted Alcaraz.
But Alcaraz knew he’d had no shot at getting to the Otte winner, so he gamely gave up the point.
Turns out, that’s one way I hadn’t thought of to make a crowd go wild. And Alcaraz went on to win the match, 6-3, 6-2, 6-1.
Sportsmanship of the highest order @carlosalcaraz made sure Oscar Otte’s winner counted, in spite of the call correction#Wimbledon pic.twitter.com/rV5SY4HzFH
— Wimbledon (@Wimbledon) July 2, 2022
That wasn’t even the only time last year he pulled such a principled stunt.
He was a win away from his first Masters 1000 title at the Miami Open, playing against defending champion Hubert Hurkacz, who just got to the ball before umpire Fergus Murphy called a double bounce. While Hurkacz pled his case, Alcaraz volunteered to replay the point – again to the delight of the crowd.
And, again, the tennis gods smiled. Alcaraz won 7-6 (5), 7-6 (2).
Things you love to see
Brilliant sportsmanship from @alcarazcarlos03 in his #MiamiOpen semi-final vs Hurkacz! pic.twitter.com/fPl0dXWiIM
— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) April 2, 2022
Beside those stunning acts of fairness, there was also his ready admission of how much he has to improve: “Everything… so much.”
He’s a hustler out of breaks, and a record-breaker but not a racket-smasher. A star who signs and signs and signs for fans and then tweets a video of those encounters with an appreciative heart attached.
He’s resilient, he’s gritty. Hop, skip, fist pump; he’s positive thought personified.
If you followed his trek to the U.S. Open title last summer, you saw it. He came in as the No. 3 seed and breezed to the fourth round by beating Sebastian Baez, Federico Coria and Jenson Brooksby without dropping a set.
Then the going got tougher, and Alcaraz kept going, and going: He defeated 15th seed Marin Cilic in five sets and dueled with Jannik Sinner in what was arguably the match of the season, saving a match point in the fourth set before pulling off the victory in the second-longest U.S. Open match (5 hours, 15 minutes). The match finished later than any before at the tournament – 2:50 a.m. in New York.
And then the Spaniard summoned the energy to do it again in the semifinals, beating Frances Tiafoe in a third consecutive five-set match victory before getting past fifth seed Casper Ruud in the final — and earning the No. 1 ranking.
Alcaraz came into the BNP Paribas ranked No. 2, but because No. 1 Novak Djokovic is absent on account of the U.S. restrictions barring non-citizens who have not been vaccinated against COVID-19, Alcaraz is a title here away from reclaiming the top ranking.
“I’m gonna go for it,” Alcaraz told reporters before the tournament began. And on Saturday night – in a pink Nike T-shirt and matching eggshell cream shorts and wristbands – he got going.
— Carlos Alcaraz (@carlosalcaraz) March 10, 2023