19-year-old Spanish tennis sensation becomes youngest top 5 men's player since Rafael Nadal
Getty/Clive Brunskill
- Carlos Alcaraz is fast making tennis history.
- On Monday, he became the youngest top five men's player since Rafael Nadal in 2005.
- "Little by little I'm reaching my dream," the 19-year-old said.
Spanish teenager Carlos Alcaraz has become the youngest men's tennis player to be ranked in the world top five since Rafael Nadal in 2005.
Alcaraz, 19, has won four singles titles this year, including the Miami Open and Madrid Open.
He was beaten in the final of the Hamburg Open by Italy's Lorenzo Musetti on Sunday, but his second-place finish in Germany was still enough to see him rise to a career-high fifth in the latest ATP rankings, which were released on Monday.
"It means a lot," Alcaraz told reporters after his loss to Musetti. "The hard work that I put in every day for reaching my dreams and little by little I'm reaching my dream."
At 19 years and two months old, Alcaraz is the second-youngest men's player in tennis history to reach the ATP's top five.
The youngest player ever to do so is Nadal, who was 18 years and 11 months old when he first broke into the top five.
"Top five for me is pretty amazing and I will keep going to be [number] one," said Alcaraz.
Getty/Denis Doyle
Alcaraz's rise to the top has been swift.
The Spaniard only broke into the top 100 in May 2021. By the end of the year he surged to number 31, before his wins in Miami and Madrid pushed him up to number six in May 2022.
His run to the Madrid Open title included wins against Nadal and Djokovic to become the first player ever to beat both players in back-to-back matches on clay.
Speaking with tennis blog Puntodelbreak earlier this month, Alcaraz said he had been surprised with just how fast he has climbed the rankings.
"I did not expect to evolve as fast as I did, but I work for it," he said. "As I always say, hard work pays off, although in my case it was all a bit quick and surprising."
Alcaraz next plays in the opening round of the Croatia Open on Wednesday.