Before Carlos Alcaraz, there was Carlos Alcaraz Snr and before him, Carlos Alcaraz Snr Snr. The three-generation journey to Wimbledon top seed and world No 1 is a story 100 years in the making, but it starts with a slice of luck — and a slice of cake.
If it were not for the financial backing of Alfonso Lopez Rueda, the tennis-loving president of Spanish cake and yoghurt giant Postres Reina, Alcaraz Jnr’s tale might have ended up the same as his father, a promising player hampered by a lack of funding.
The sliding doors moment came one evening on a clay court in the mountains of El Palmar, a quiet village in south-eastern Spain, which overlooks Murcia. Lopez Rueda was asked to watch young Alcaraz after being implored to do so by a friend at the tennis club.
He was taken aback. Alcaraz had an armoury of shots that belied his 10 years of age. On the court he had it all, but money was tight.
So Lopez Rueda put up €2,000 for Alcaraz to travel to a junior tournament in Croatia. He lost in the final but Postres Reina continued to fund him until he turned professional, with their logo on his sleeve.
Before Carlos Alcaraz, there was Carlos Alcaraz Snr and before him, Carlos Alcaraz Snr Snr
Alcaraz of Spain poses with the trophy alongside his father after beating Alex De Minaur
After long days at work, Alcaraz Snr (left) would be persuaded to play with his son (right) as the sun went down
Those tournaments and that funding helped put the Spanish phenomenon on the road to stardom, but it was not the only landmark moment.
Grandpa Alcaraz revamped his shooting club and hunters’ society into a tennis centre with 13 tennis courts and a pool. It would have been cheaper to install hard courts, but the site was instead filled with red clay surfaces and that decision tempted Lopez Rueda to join.
But this is where we depart from luck and sliding doors moments as Alcaraz’s journey since has been punctuated by perseverance, innate skill, shrewd coaching, adaptability and, above all, a love for tennis.
‘It was clear then he was going to be a professional player,’ said David Ayuela, who captained Alcaraz in Spain’s Davis Cup youth team. ‘He was a good boy and hard worker. He was and is very happy on the tennis court. He is the present and future.’
That is a phrase you will hear a lot about the world No 1. The boy that would be king, Carlitos — as he is known to most — is third in the lineage of the Alcaraz tennis dynasty which started in those mountains above Murcia.
His ascent to the top of the tennis mountain started aged three when hitting with his father on the grounds of the tennis club, begging to defy bedtimes for one more rally. After long days at work, Alcaraz Snr would be persuaded to play with his son as the sun went down.
Carlitos would stand and watch matches of players with decades of experience over him and shout advice their way, butting in to advise elders where to serve and stand. At his first tournament aged five, he was dwarfed by an opponent three years his senior and would often see the ball bounce over his head early in the match. After noting this, the five-year-old moved to the net and volleyed every shot without letting the ball bounce.
That instinctive adaptability is perhaps his best asset. Just last week at Queen’s it was intriguing watching him look like a grass court novice, slipping around and struggling in his first-round match before claiming a first title on the lawns within days.
Alcaraz beat the Australian (above) at the Cinch Tennis Championships in London
Some 68,000 punters packed the west Kensington club across the week and many were there to catch a glimpse of the heir apparent to Novak Djokovic’s throne, as he regained the top ranking and sent a Wimbledon warning to his Serbian foe.
He glided around the court with grace, showed razor-sharp eyesight to correctly challenge a few dubious line calls and wowed the crowd by catching loose balls from the sky with one hand.
‘I knew Carlitos would be a very good tennis player,’ says Kiko Navarro, his first coach. ‘As a child he was incredibly technical, he won many tournaments against older children.
‘At 15 he was already playing challenger events and getting very good results. He had days where it was difficult for him, but then his mentality changed at age 13 or 14 and he became more professional.
‘Carlitos used to be a really bad loser! But it’s important to have that ambition and to get angry at losses. I tried to make sure it did not impact him on court.
‘If he was angry or cried, I would leave him alone for a bit and then chat.’
Away from the court, Alcaraz is a huge Real Madrid fan and has exchanged texts with their players, Vinicius Jnr watching him play live a couple of times. He also has a charity to help people with Downs Syndrome and auctioned his US Open- winning trainers to raise money for charity Assido.
Coach Paul Annacone (above) — whose CV includes work with Pete Sampras and Roger Federer — admits Alcaraz was the most complete teenager he had seen
Alcaraz signed for prestigious agency IMG aged 11, the same brand whose tennis supremo Max Eisenbud took on Maria Sharapova at the same age after watching her hit for 45 minutes.
The Spaniard, now 20, is in safe hands with IMG and his strong family unit, as well as coach Juan Carlos Ferrero, the former world No 1 and 2003 French Open winner who turned down approaches from top 10 players to become his mentor. Together they have worked on improving Alcaraz’s temperament.
Another coach, Paul Annacone — whose CV includes work with Pete Sampras and Roger Federer — admits Alcaraz was the most complete teenager he had seen. ‘His game is electric, like lightning in a bottle,’ he said.
As he goes toe-to-toe with Djokovic as the two favourites to win Wimbledon, it is easy to consider Alcaraz the heir to the throne of men’s tennis’ Big Three.But as he has said: ‘I don’t want people to know me as the next Rafa Nadal, I just want to be Carlos Alcaraz.’
