Alcaraz, the youngest king

Carlos Alcaraz will close the year as number one in the world. The the youngest in history at 19 years and six months, surpassing Australian Lleyton Hewitt, who was 20 years, eight months and 23 days old when he joined him in 2001. Rafa Nadal’s defeat, coupled with the Casper Ruud-Taylor Fritz result, left the Spaniard with no chance of winning the tournament, which would have put him back at the top. Stephen Tsitsipasthe other player with options, has already lost a match (against Novak Djokovic), which excluded him mathematically, because I needed to be an undefeated champion.

“Congratulations to Carlos for this case. I am happy for him. It’s a great result and great news for our sport in Spain. He deserved it after a great season.” Nadal congratulated him in advance, after losing to Felix Auger-Aliassime.

Alcaraz will be at the Pala Alpitour this Wednesday. His trip to ATP commitments was already scheduled, having been classified for the Finals that He cannot play due to the abdominal injury suffered at the Masters 1,000 in Paris. Now, at 21 (Deportes by M+), on the eve of the match between Daniil Medvedev and Stefanos Tsitsipas, he will also receive the trophy in Turin that accredits him as number one at the end of the year. Before that, he will deliver a press conference.

The Murciano is the 18th player to finish the course at the top, taking over from Djokovic, who did so in 2020 and 2021 and holds the record, with seven. Rafa Nadal, who has achieved it five times, was the only Spaniard to have enjoyed that accolade. Juan Carlos Ferrero and Carlos Moyá, in the ATP, and Arantxa Sánchez Vicario and Garbiñe Muguruza, in the WTA, were also number one, but never at the end of the season.

Alcaraz thus breaks the hegemony of the Big Three since 2004. Djokovic, Nadal and Federer (5) shared the honor of closing the season as one, with the only stoppage coming from Andy Murray in 2016.

The tennis player from El Palmar ended the year (balance 57-13) with five titles: the ATP 500 in Rio and Godó, the Masters 1,000 in Miami and Madrid and the US Open. It was in New York that it topped the charts, where it has now been for ten weeks.

ALL ISSUE ONE AT THE END OF THE YEAR