INDIAN WELLS — Carlos Alcaraz is the kind of guy you’d want to bring home – to your kids.
Or, for the next week, the type of kid you’d want to bring your kids to watch as he sets about dismantling the field at the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells Tennis Garden, starting Saturday, when he defeated Australian Thanasi Kokkinakis 6-3, 6-3 beneath the bright lights in Stadium 1.
In the hour preceding Alcaraz’s 2023 debut at the tournament Saturday, the 19-year-old’s name was on the lips of fans throughout the grounds – regardless of what language they spoke, a fan favorite for all the right reasons.
It’s not only his derring do and all those indomitable drop shots. Not just his court-expanding savvy and his good-luck-getting-much-past-him speed. Not the fact that he’s the top seed here.
It’s not even really all the history he’s rewritten.
How, by winning last year’s U.S. Open, the Spanish teen became the youngest men’s tennis player ranked No. 1 – at just 19 years, 4 months and 6 days old.
That was a highlight in the phenom’s phenomenal 2022, which included his stop in Indian Wells, where he arrived last year having just cracked the top 20 in the singles rankings.
On the hard courts in the Southern California desert, Alcaraz teased what was to come by reaching his first Masters 1000 quarterfinal and semifinal, beating defending champ Cameron Norrie before losing to his tennis hero, Rafael Nadal.
There are few things as spellbinding as potential, but last year Alcaraz accelerated past promise, fast-forwarded and brought us face to face with the future of the game at a time when tennis was saying goodbye to stalwarts, Roger Federer and Serena Williams.
Alcaraz’s arrival has included seven ATP victories (and more than $12 million in prize money). It’s also included his claim as the youngest men’s champion in the histories of the Miami Open and Mutua Madrid Open – where he swept the top three seeds in succession to win, including…
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