Carlos Alcaraz started hitting balls at four in his father's club in El Palmar, on the edge of Murcia, and grew into the rarest thing in the modern game: a player who wins everywhere. His tennis is a whirl of full-blooded forehands, feathered drop shots and speed that turns a defensive scramble into a winner, an all-court game with a different key for each surface. He announced it at the 2022 US Open, where the title lifted him to world No. 1 at 19 years and 4 months, the youngest man ever to top the ATP rankings.
The trophies followed on every kind of court. His 7 Grand Slam titles run two at Wimbledon, two at Roland Garros, two at the US Open and one at the Australian Open, a spread of range few reach in a whole career. The defining thread is his rivalry with Jannik Sinner. In the 2025 Roland Garros final Alcaraz saved three championship points and came back from two sets down to win 4-6, 6-7, 6-4, 7-6, 7-6, the longest final in the tournament's history at five hours and 29 minutes, and one of the great matches the sport has produced.
Four. That is how many US Open titles Novak Djokovic has already won, and the draw made on 27 August 2026 puts him on course to meet Carlos Alcaraz, the defending champion who also won the title in 2022, in the semi-final. Both are seeded in the same half of the 128-player field; play starts on 30 August.
Draw taleEleven. That is where Arthur Fils sits in the ATP rankings now, one place outside the world's top ten, after a run to the Cincinnati title carried the 22 year old up from No. 21 and into the top 20. It is a career best for Fils, and it makes him the only Frenchman in that group.
Ranking tale