In 11 points: How Carlos Alcaraz became the youngest World Number 1 | Tennis News

Carlos Alcaraz we’ve been talking for a while about a potential future tennis Super star. The 19-year-old has met most of those expectations for some time now and his first Grand Slam win at the U.S. Open now becomes a decisive moment of course in his young career which has already had a lot of great highlights.
Incredibly, Alcaraz, who turned professional in 2018, finds himself as the new world number 1 in men’s singles tennis. Wimbledon this year, remember, offered no ranking points, after Russian and Belarusian players were banned from participating due to Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.

As the tennis world celebrates 19 years, TimesofIndia.com takes a look here at some great Alcaraz rankings and other anecdotes that tell how the Spaniard, who idolizes Rafael Nadal, climbed from outside the Global Top 50 last year at the top of the charts:
1. Victory of Alcaraz in 4 sets against Casper Ruud in the US Open men’s singles final, it was his 51st win of the season at tour level – the most by any player this season. He is 5 wins ahead of Stefanos Tsitsipas (46 wins).
2. Alcaraz won three consecutive matches in 5 sets (against Marin Cilic, Jannik Sinner and Frances Tiafoe) to reach their first Grand Slam final. He spent up to 20 hours and 19 minutes on the pitch en route to the final.

3. Overall, Alcaraz spent 23 hours and 39 minutes on court at the US Open, surpassing Kevin Anderson at Wimbledon 2018 for the most time on court in a single recorded Grand Slam (since 1999).
4. Alcaraz is now the youngest Grand Slam champion since compatriot Rafael Nadal won the 2005 French Open, also aged 19. Alcaraz is also the youngest US Open champion since 19-year-old Pete Sampras in 1990.

5. Alcaraz is also now the youngest (19 years and 4 months) to become the world number 1 in men’s singles. He broke the previous record held by Leyton Hewitt (20 years and 9 months in November 2001). Alcaraz is the world’s first number 1 teenager.
6. Alcaraz is only the fourth Spaniard to be ranked as the men’s world number 1, after Juan Carlos Ferrero, Carlos Moya and Rafael Nadal.
7. Incredibly, Alcaraz was ranked world number 55 at the US Open 2021, last year.

8. Alcaraz started the US Open 2022, this year ranked 4th in the world.
9. Alcaraz equaled the record for the biggest jump to number 1 in the history of the ATP rankings. He is only the fourth player to go from world number 4 to world number 1 in the space of one ATP ranking update (one tournament). Alcaraz joins Carlos Moya (March 1999), Andre Agassi (July 1999) and Pete Sampras (September 2000) on this list.

10. Alcaraz is the first player since Novak Djokovic at Wimbledon 2019 to save a match point en route to a Grand Slam title. Alcaraz saved a match point against Jannik Sinner in the quarterfinals. Djokovic saved two match points against Roger Federer in the 2019 Wimbledon final.
11. Alcaraz now has 5 Tour leading titles this season. Prior to the US Open title, he also won the ATP Masters 1000 titles in Miami and Madrid.
*Stats courtesy: ATP