MURCIA. The Murcian tennis player Carlos Alcaraz Garfia, who this week appears for the first time in his still short career in the ATP top 100, has been, with 18 years and 19 days, the fifth youngest player to have that status in two decades and can say he has made it this far three weeks before Roger Federer, almost two months before Novak Djokovic and one year and two months after Rafa Nadal.
Alcaraz, who this Monday, when the weekly list came out, was ranked 94 in the international ranking, climbed 20 spots in the last seven days thanks to his victory in the tournament ATP Challenger from Oeiras, in Portugal, and since the beginning of this century only Nadal, the French Richard Gasquet, the Croatian Borna Coric and the Argentine Juan Martin del Potro they entered the top 100 being younger than “La Roca”.
Nadal broke with everything and did it on April 21, 2003 with barely 16 years, 10 months and 18 days, while Gasquet reached those positions with 17 years, 3 months, and 11 days; Boric con 17 years, 11 months, and 13 days; and Del Potro, with 18 years and 16 days.
Of the tennis players who occupy the top ten positions today, only Nadal surpassed Alcaraz in precociousness in terms of entering the top 100.
Serbian Novak Djokovic, current number 1, did it on July 7, 2005 with 18 years, two months and 13 days; and the Swiss Roger Federer, who is now the eighth, reached it on September 20, 1999 with 18 years, 1 month and 12 days.
Russian Daniil Medvedev, second ATP player, did it with 20 years, 9 months and 3 days; the austrian Dominic Thiem, room, with 20 years, 6 months and 14 days; greek Stefanos Tsitsipas, fifth, with 19 years, 2 months, and 11 days; the German Alexander Zverev, sixth, with 18 years and 28 days; the russian Andrey Rublev, seventh, with 19 years, 8 months, and 6 days; the Italian Matteo Berretttini, ninth, with 21 years, 11 months and 7 days; and the Argentine Diego Schwartzman, tenth, with 21 years, 9 months and 24 days.
Of all these players, only Federer, Nadal and Djkovic have reached the top of the world rankings, something that has been done by another tennis player still active, the Scotsman. Andy Murray, who was top 100 on October 3, 2005 with 18 years, 4 months, and 28 days And now, at 34, he ranks 123.
Carlos Alcaraz, obviously, aspires to continue progressing and already warned a few months ago that one of his objectives for this 2021 was finish the year in the top 50 of the world and is on the way to achieve it.
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