After a brilliant performance in the Wimbledon 2023 final, where he defeated Novak Djokovic, many are hailing Carlos Alcaraz as the future of tennis…
With legends like Federer and Nadal retiring or slowing down, Djokovic has looked mostly unstoppable, but even he is now drawing closer to the end of his career. With the old stars waning, fans are looking forward to the rise of the next big thing, and Carlos Alcaraz is looking more and more like the future of tennis with each passing year.
At only 20 years old, Alcaraz is still in the very early stages of his professional career but has already won two major singles titles and reached the number-one rank in men’s tennis. His victory over Casper Ruud saw him win the US Open in 2022, and he’s now added the Wimbledon title to his list of accolades too. You can find the odds for the US Open online, with Alcaraz as the current favorite. Arizona sports betting is now legal, allowing you to bet on all the latest tennis matches. This month Alcaraz returns to the US and looks to cement his place as the world number one.
Who is Carlos Alcaraz
Carlos Alcaraz is just twenty years old and became the youngest men’s tennis player to hold the number one ranking at just nineteen. So far in his career, he’s won twelve ATP singles titles, including two majors. Born in 2003 in Spain, he began playing tennis early as his father was the director of a tennis academy.
After turning pro in 2018, Alcaraz has continued to improve and grow as a tennis player, climbing the rankings to become the world’s number-one men’s player. He has an all-round style of play but tends to be aggressive, particularly from the baseline. His forehand is his strongest shot in terms of winning points, and he also has an excellently disguised drop shot.
Future Stars of Tennis
While the sport has been dominated by a few names over a decade, Federer has retired, and Nadal is slowly reducing his time on the court due to injuries. Meanwhile, Djokovic has won a record 23 men’s Grand Slam singles titles while also holding the number-one spot for a record 389 weeks throughout his career. However, at 36 years old, his career at the highest level is almost certainly coming to a close.
Alcaraz represents the sport’s future, but plenty of other emerging talents could challenge him over the coming years. When a new tennis star emerges, many expect them to show the kind of dominance that Federer and Djokovic have been capable of. However, it’s hard to predict how the future will play out.
Holger Rune is another name in the men’s game that stands out when talking about young upcoming stars. The Dane has previously been ranked as number six in the world and has a lot of potential to go on to bigger things after reaching the quarter-finals of the French Open in 2022 and 2023. He also reached the quarter-finals of Wimbledon in 2023, where he lost to Alcaraz, an appetizer for their potential future rivalry.
Lorenzo Musetti is another one to watch, with the 19-year-old Italian achieving the number 15 world ranking this summer. He was previously ranked as the world’s junior number-one tennis player. While he hasn’t won a major tournament yet, he recently reached the third round of Wimbledon and hopes to go further at the US Open.