Spanish teen Carlos Alcaraz becomes youngest Miami Open champ, gets call from the King
Any tennis fan worried about the future of the men’s game as Roger Federer, Rafa Nadal and Novak Djokovic get older need only watch a replay of Sunday’s Miami Open final.
Carlos Alcaraz, the fearless 18-year-old Spaniard with the audacious drop shot, showed why he is the sport’s latest rage with a 7-5, 6-4 win over seventh-ranked Norwegian Casper Ruud.
Alcaraz became the youngest Miami Open champion in the tournament’s 37-year history, besting Djokovic, who was 19 when he won in 2007.
Djokovic won his title when the event was called the Sony Ericsson Open and was held in tropical environs in Key Biscayne. Alcaraz won his in a 16,000-seat Stadium Court erected inside Hard Rock Stadium as an F1 racetrack was under construction around the parking lot.
Though the scenery was different, the storyline was the same: a teenager emerged and proved he could handle the big stage.
A year ago, Alcaraz had not cracked the Top 100. On Monday, he will move up to No. 11 in the world. He became the first Spanish men’s champion in Miami and received a congratulatory call from Felipe VI King of Spain.
“It was amazing to get a call from the Spanish king, and know that he recognized my hard work,” Alcaraz said, breaking into a huge smile. “I was more nervous for that than the match.”
South Florida’s large Hispanic tennis community and visitors from Latin America embraced Alcaraz from the start of the tournament and a men’s final record crowd of 21,393 showed up on Sunday -- 16,000 watched in the stadium and another nearly 6,000 had grounds passes.
“Vamos, Vamos, Al-ca-raz!” the fans chanted during changeovers, adopting a popular soccer cheer. When he broke Ruud’s serve to go up 6-5 in the first set, the crowd broke into “Ole! Ole! Ole” and some fans waved Spanish flags.
“I love Miami,” Alcaraz said, as the largely Spanish-speaking crowd cheered and whistled. “I felt like I was playing at home from the first minute of the tournament.”
The teenager dazzled Sunday’s audience with his full bag of tennis tricks -- perfectly-timed drop shots, finesse at the net and firepower. His aggressive style and on-court roars and fist pumps have drawn comparisons to his countryman and idol Nadal.
Asked what he thinks about being compared to the 22-time Grand Slam champion, the Spanish teen said: “If they compare you with Rafa that means you are doing the right things. But I am trying to not think about all that. Rafa is Rafa. Carlos is Carlos. He is one of the best in history of tennis and my idol. I am living my dream. To be around him now on tour is pretty special.”
Ruud took a 3-0 lead Sunday and then went up 4-1 on the strength of his forehand, which was clocked at 91 mph, but Alcaraz settled down and rallied.
“In the beginning he made some sloppy mistakes we don’t see too often from him, but then he raised his level,” said Ruud, who moves up to No. 7 on Monday and joked that he now can share the CR7 nickname with soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo. “In our previous match he was coming at me firing flames at me, so the idea was to fight fire with fire. But he’s a great mover. You have to hit three or four winners to win a point against him.
“I have heard Rafa (Nadal) say Carlos has all the ingredients to make a good salad, and I think that describes it very well,” Ruud said. “He has firepower from both sides. You never get a resting point in the rallies and that’s very challenging. Not too many players can be so aggressive from both sides.”
When the match was over, Alcaraz fell flat on the ground.
“When I won the last point, and fell down and all the hard work, travels, and training came to my mind in that moment,” he said. “It was amazing.”
Alcaraz then climbed up into the stands to celebrate with his family and with his coach, former No. 1 Juan Carlos Ferrero, who had been away in Spain mourning the death of his father, but surprised Alcaraz and flew in for the final. Ferrero wept as he hugged his student.
Ferrero said he was not surprised that Alcaraz won such a big event at such a young age, for he saw his potential a few years ago. “When he was 16, he was practicing with players much higher ranked and he could adapt his game, so that means he has something special,” Ferrero said.
Ferrero said the key now is to keep Alcaraz grounded and prepare him “for the circus.” As someone who went through it, he will advise the rising star to stick close to those who have been with him all along and not get distracted by hangers-on.
“We will go back home, play golf, try to keep him calm and create a bubble around him,” Ferrero said. “I will be the invisible whip, making sure he does things the right way.”
Alcaraz’ goal entering this season was to end the year in the top 15. Now that he is about to crack the top 10, he has more ambitious goals. His $1.23 million check Sunday doubled his career earnings.
“I am not afraid to say I want to win a Grand Slam,” he said. “I know how hard it is, you have to play at the top level for two weeks, but I am not afraid to say I want a Grand Slam title.”
Women’s Doubles: Laura Siegemund and Vera Zvonareva won the Miami Open women’s doubles title 7-6 (7-3), 7-5 over No. 1 seeds Veronika Kudermetova and Elise Mertens. Siegemund, 34, and Zvonareva, 37, teamed up for the first time a year and a half ago and won the 2020 U.S. Open title together. They also won a title in Lyon last month.
Attendance: The total attendance for the 14-day tournament was 371,479, which was the second-highest total in tournament history. The largest was 388,743 in 2019, the first year it was held at Hard Rock Stadium after moving from Key Biscayne.
This story was originally published April 3, 2022 at 6:28 PM.