2022 Carlos Alcaraz tennis season

The 2022 Carlos Alcaraz tennis season officially began on 17 January 2022, with the start of the Australian Open in Melbourne. This was the breakout year for Carlos Alcaraz who won his first Grand Slam tournament and reached No. 1 in the world rankings, both at age 19.

During this season, Alcaraz:

• Won his first and second ATP 500 events
• Became the youngest winner of an ATP 500 event in history
• Won his first and second Masters 1000 events
• Became the youngest winner of the Miami Open in history
• Became the youngest winner of the Madrid Open in history
• Won his first major title at the US Open
• Became the first man born in the 2000s to win a major singles title
• Clinched the world No. 1 ranking for the first time, holding it for 16 weeks
• Became the youngest ATP world No. 1 in history

Alcaraz received direct entry into the main draw of the Australian Open for the first time. This was the first major he entered as a seed, ranked world No. 31. He reached the third round, where he was defeated in a fifth set tiebreak by Matteo Berrettini.^[2]

Alcaraz entered the Rio Open, where he had made his ATP Tour debut two years earlier. He was now seventh seed. Alcaraz avenged his Australian Open exit by defeating Berrettini in the quarterfinals. He made it to the final, where he defeated Diego Schwartzman to claim his second ATP title.^[3] He became the youngest winner of an ATP 500 event since the category was created in 2009.^[4] Alcaraz entered the top 20 of the ATP rankings on 21 February 2022.

Alcaraz then withdrew from the Mexican Open, citing discomfort in his right elbow.^[5]

In March, Alcaraz joined the Spanish Davis Cup team for the first time in his career for a tie against Romania. Alcaraz defeated Marius Copil in straight sets, helping to book Spain's place in the Finals.^[6]

Alcaraz arrived in North America to play Indian Wells for the second time in his career. He defeated Gaël Monfils to reach his first Masters quarterfinal, and Cameron Norrie to reach his first Masters semifinal. Alcaraz had been storming through the draw without dropping a set; however, he lost the semifinal in three sets to his compatriot Rafael Nadal.^[7] This was their second out of three career meetings.

Alcaraz proceeded to the Miami Open, where he was seeded fourteenth. In the fourth round he defeated world No. 3 Stefanos Tsitsipas, followed by defending champion Hubert Hurkacz in the semifinals. In the final, Alcaraz defeated Casper Ruud in straight sets to win his first Masters 1000 title. He was the first Spaniard to win the tournament. At 18 years and 333 days old, he was also the youngest men's singles titlist in Miami Open history, and the youngest Masters champion since Rafael Nadal at the 2005 Monte Carlo Masters.^[8]

Now the world No. 11, Alcaraz received a bye into the second round of the Monte-Carlo Masters. He was upset in windy conditions by the unseeded Sebastian Korda in three sets.^[9] Ironically, this was the last match Alcaraz would play at Monte-Carlo until winning his first title there in 2025.

Alcaraz bounced back at the Barcelona Open, where he defeated compatriot Pablo Carreño Busta to win his fourth career title. By winning his quarterfinal match against Stefanos Tsitsipas, Alcaraz broke into the top ten of the world rankings for the first time, on 25 April.^[10] He became the 20th teenager to break into the top 10 overall since rankings were established in 1973, and the youngest since Rafael Nadal on 25 April 2005, exactly 17 years earlier.^[11][12]

Alcaraz then entered the Madrid Open as seventh seed. A day after his 19th birthday, he defeated 5-time Madrid champion, world No. 4 and third seed Rafael Nadal in the quarterfinals.^[13] This was Alcaraz's first victory against Nadal, and their final tour-level meeting. The following day, Alcaraz faced world No. 1 Novak Djokovic in their first tour level meeting. After three hours and thirty-six minutes, Alcaraz stunned the tennis world by prevailing in a tight third set tiebreak (6–7^(5–7), 7–5, 7–6^(7–5)). This match was later named the ATP Match of the Year.^[14] Alcaraz became the youngest player to win a match against a world No. 1 since 2004, and the only player ever to defeat Nadal and Djokovic back-to-back on clay.^[15] In the final, Alcaraz dismantled defending champion and world No. 3 Alexander Zverev in an hour and four minutes, thereby having defeated the tournament's top three seeds in three consecutive matches.^[16] He became the youngest champion in the tournament's history.^[17] Alcaraz climbed to a career-high of world No. 6 in the rankings on 9 May 2022.^[18]

Alcaraz then withdrew from the Italian Open due to an ankle injury.^[19]

Alcaraz made his seeded debut at the French Open. Having won two of the tour's biggest titles on clay coming into the tournament, he was widely projected to be one of the favorites for the title.^[20] In the first round, he defeated Juan Ignacio Londero in straight sets. The second round was more complicated: Alcaraz was forced to save a match point in a second round five-setter against Albert Ramos Viñolas.^[21][22] He defeated Sebastian Korda and Karen Khachanov in straight sets. He then lost decisively to Alexander Zverev in the second major quarterfinal of his career.^[23][24][25]

Alcaraz did not play a warm-up tournament before Wimbledon, where he was competing for the second time in his career. In the first round, he beat Jan-Lennard Struff in a close five setter. He then defeated Tallon Griekspoor and Oscar Otte in straight sets, to reach the fourth round for the first time at Wimbledon. He lost there in four sets to world No. 13 and future rival Jannik Sinner.^[26]

Alcaraz returned to clay courts after Wimbledon. He reached the finals of the Hamburg Open, where he suffered his first defeat in a tour-level final to Lorenzo Musetti.^[27] Following this tournament, on 25 July 2022, Alcaraz reached a new career high of world No. 5. He became the youngest male player to enter the top 5 since Nadal in 2005.^[28]

Alcaraz then returned to Umag as the defending champion, where he suffered a consecutive defeat in a final, this time to Jannik Sinner.^[29] This nevertheless resulted in another jump in the rankings to world No. 4 on 1 August.^[30]

Playing the Canadian Open for the first time in his career and seeded second, Alcaraz received a bye into the second round. He was upset there by Tommy Paul in a tight three-setter, 6–7^(7–4), 7–6^(8–7), 6–3.^[31] The match lasted three hours and twenty minutes.

Alcaraz reached the quarterfinals of the Cincinnati Open, where he lost in three sets to Cameron Norrie.^[32]

Alcaraz then entered the US Open for the second time in his career. Prior to the tournament, Alcaraz, Rafael Nadal, Casper Ruud, Daniil Medvedev, and Stefanos Tsitsipas were all in contention to take over the world No. 1 singles ranking. Alcaraz made it through the first three rounds without dropping a set. In the fourth round, he defeated former champion Marin Čilić in five sets. In the quarterfinals, Alcaraz saved a match point in the fourth set before recovering to win in five sets against Jannik Sinner. The match lasted five hours and fifteen minutes, and recorded the latest finish in the history of the tournament at 2:50AM.^[33] Alcaraz then played a third consecutive five-setter in the semifinals to defeat Frances Tiafoe.^[34] He then faced 5th seed Casper Ruud in a final where both players were in contention for the world No. 1 ranking. Alcaraz won the match in four sets to seize his first major title.

Alcaraz became the youngest No. 1 in the history of the ATP Rankings at the age of 19 years, 4 months and 6 days, breaking Lleyton Hewitt's record, and the second youngest all-time behind Lew Hoad.^[35][36] He also became the youngest men's major champion since Nadal at the 2005 French Open, the youngest US Open champion since Pete Sampras in 1990, and the first man born in the 2000s to win a major singles title. At 23 hours and 39 minutes of play duration across his seven matches, Alcaraz spent the longest time on court in major history (a record later broken by Medvedev at the 2024 Australian Open).^[37]

Alcaraz reunited with the Spanish team for the group stage of the Davis Cup Finals. He lost his first match as world No. 1 to Canada's Félix Auger-Aliassime in three sets.^[38] He then defeated South Korea's Kwon Soon-woo in straight sets.

Alcaraz then entered the Astana Open, where he lost in the first round to lucky loser David Goffin in straight sets.^[39]

At the Swiss Indoors in Basel, Alcaraz reached the semifinals, where he lost once again to eventual champion Auger-Aliassime.^[40]

At the Paris Masters, Alcaraz retired in the quarterfinals down a set against eventual champion Holger Rune due to an internal tear in his left abdominal wall.^[41] Due to this injury, Alcaraz withdrew from both the Davis Cup Finals and his first chance at playing the ATP Finals, bringing his season to a close.^[42] Alcaraz, at the age of 19 years and 214 days, ended the year as youngest and first teenage world No. 1 in the ATP era, and second youngest of all-time behind Hoad.^[43][44]

This table chronicles all the matches of Carlos Alcaraz in 2022.

Per Carlos Alcaraz, this is his current 2022 schedule (subject to change).

• source：Rankings breakdown

Carlos Alcaraz has a 57–13 ATP match win–loss record in the 2022 season. His record against players who were part of the ATP rankings Top Ten at the time of their meetings is 9–5. Bold indicates player was ranked top 10 at the time of at least one meeting. The following list is ordered by number of wins:

* Statistics correct as of 4 November 2022.

• Bold font denotes tournament win

Figures in United States dollars (USD) unless noted.

• source：2022 Singles Activity
• source：2022 Doubles Activity

• 2022 ATP Tour
• 2022 Rafael Nadal tennis season
• 2022 Novak Djokovic tennis season
• 2022 Daniil Medvedev tennis season

• ATP tour profile