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Carlos Alcaraz: 5 Facts About US Open Champion Now Ranked Number 1
Carlos Alcaraz Garfia won his first Grand Slam by defeating Casper Ruud in the US Open.
Spanish tennis player Carlos Alcaraz Garfia won his first Grand Slam championship in New York by defeating Casper Ruud in four sets in the final, capping off an incredible run. After saving a match point, Alcaraz actually became the first man to win the US Open since Stanislas Wawrinka in 2016.
- He is currently the ATP's youngest-ever No. 1 player. At the start of the 2021 season, he was ranked 141st. At 20 years and 9 months, Lleyton Hewitt was the previous youngest number 1.
- At 19 years and 129 days, Alcaraz has become the second-youngest US Open champion. Pete Sampras won the major in New York in 1990 being only 19 years and 15 days old, becoming the youngest-ever to win US Open, a record he still holds. Overall, Alcaraz is the 11th teenager to win a major and the youngest Grand Slam champion since Rafael Nadal at the 2005 French Open.
- Alcaraz is a native of the tiny Spanish village of El Palmar. He acquired his tennis skills in a training facility run by his father, a semi-pro. He won multiple Spanish and European championships when he was a young athlete. Alcaraz won his debut ATP match against Albert Ramos Vinolas in 2020, barely 16 years old. Former No. 1 player in the world Juan Carlos Ferrero is his trainer. Ferrero hopes to see Alcaraz win 30 Grand Slams and has been working with him since he was 15 years old.
- Alcaraz is now the fourth Spaniard, behind Nadal (22) Carlos Moya (22) and his mentor Juan Carlos Ferrero, to ascend to the top rank on the ATP list (23).
- In May, Alcaraz advanced to the Madrid Open final by defeating not only his idol Rafael Nadal but also Novak Djokovic, who was ranked first at the time. Alcaraz was on the court for a record-breaking 23 hours and 39 minutes. He beat Andy Murray's record of 21 hours, 51 minutes on court at the 2012 US Open and Kevin Anderson's Grand Slam record of 23 hours, 20 minutes on court at the 2018 Wimbledon over the course of the tournament.
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