SPANISH tennis has a new rising star: The first man ever to win the Miami Masters 1000, a complete outsider less than a year ago and now starting to make the likes of Novak Djokovic, Rafa Nadal and Roger Federer tremble in their trainers.
Carlos Alcaraz, at just 18 years old, is only the second Spaniard to clinch the Miami title after 1995 Wimbledon winner Arantxa Sánchez Vicario, and his meteoric rise to success has seen him soar from world number 133 in spring 2021 to number 11 now.
Carlos Alcaraz is just 18, but is already teetering on the edge of the world top 10 list (photo: Peter Staples for ATP Tour/Atptour.com)
A pupil of legendary Spanish player Juan Carlos Ferrero, Alcaraz's win on Sunday means he is just one slot away from joining Rafa Nadal in the ATP top 10, where the Mallorca-born ace is currently the only Spaniard.
Alcaraz's rival in the Miami final, Norway's Casper Ruud, has risen to world number seven, just inches away from Nadal who, on 7,115 points, is currently world number four behind Zverev (7,195 points), Medvedev (8,410) and Serbian superstar Djokovic at number one (8,420).
Carlos Alcaraz himself is on 3,411 points after the weekend's Masters 1000 title.
Spain's latest generation of tennis professionals are certainly the ones to watch right now – Paula Badosa, the first Spanish woman to win at Indian Wells in October 2021, rose to WTA world number three after Sunday's tournament – the highest ranking yet in her career.
Leapfrogging Spain's latest Wimbledon winner – from 2017 – and former WTA number one, Garbiñe Muguruza, Paula Badosa, 24 (pictured above), crashed out of the quarter-finals in Miami, but still gained enough points to clinch her first world top three place, only beaten in the standings by the Czech Republic's Barbora Krejcíková (4,975 points) and Poland's Iga Swiatek (6,711 points).
Paula was forced to withdraw midway through her battle against Jessica Pegula for a place in the semi-final, due to injury, but this is not thought to be a temporary setback which will not prevent her from competing in any upcoming tournaments on the WTA circuit.
If she remains on a roll and playing at the same level as she did at Indian Wells, and depending upon how Barbora and Iga fare, Paula has a good chance of hitting the world number one slot before the year is out.
Unlike Rafa Nadal, who is still, for the moment, the only Spaniard in the ATP top 10, Paula is not alone as an ambassador for Spain at the sharp end of the WTA standings, since Garbiñe continues to hold onto her world number nine slot.
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