Alcaraz: From Paris Miracle to Well-Deserved Rest in Ibiza

Without much time to celebrate, just a night in Paris, Carlos Alcaraz already faces new challenges ahead. The Murcian tennis player will repeat the routine that worked for him last year and head to Ibiza for a few days to enjoy his second consecutive title at Roland Garros, his friends, and the festivities. However, this break won't last long. This week, he must start thinking about Queen's and Wimbledon, the first two stops on his calendar after the clay court season.

The clay has brought much joy to the Spaniard, who has completed the best two months of his career on this surface this year. He won in Monte Carlo, Rome, and Roland Garros and reached the final in Barcelona. In total, 22 victories and only one defeat, against Holger Rune at the Conde de Godó.

After the well-deserved rest, which no one will question after defeating Jannik Sinner in one of the best finals in tennis history, Alcaraz will start thinking about grass this week. Before the weekend, he will move to Queen's to get his first feel of the grass. Last year, he paid the price for Ibiza's excesses with a defeat in his second match against Jack Draper. This season, however, he knows that an early loss in West London doesn't mean a poor performance at Wimbledon.

Alcaraz, with his well-known "my way," knows what it means to win at the Cathedral, both by winning at Queen's beforehand - as he did in 2023 - and by losing early. In any case, the Murcian will have at least ten days of preparation on the surface that requires the most radical change after clay.

And then it will be time to think about records. Because Alcaraz has already joined the select group by winning consecutively at Roland Garros and Wimbledon last season, being the youngest to do so, he now has the opportunity to be the youngest to achieve it in consecutive years.

Completing the so-called 'Channel Slam' - due to the English Channel dividing France and Great Britain - is within reach of only seven men in history, but of these seven, only Bjorn Borg managed to repeat it the following year. In fact, the Swede took this record to a new level and achieved it three consecutive seasons (1978, 1979, and 1980).

After two consecutive finals won against Novak Djokovic in 2023 and 2024, only the Serbian seems to be at his level on grass, waiting to witness Sinner's growth at Wimbledon, where his best is the 2023 semifinals. The Italian, eliminated last year in the quarterfinals by Daniil Medvedev, has no excuse this year not to excel at the All England Club and, at the very least, reach the last final he lacks in the Grand Slams.

Moreover, he doesn't have the pressure of the world ranking, because whatever happens in the coming weeks, Sinner will be number one when Wimbledon ends. The 500 points he earned for reaching the final increase his cushion over Alcaraz, who couldn't add anything at Roland Garros and won't be able to at Wimbledon. Sinner's current lead is 2,030 points.

The only opening for Alcaraz is that the Italian defends 500 points in Halle, while he can add 400 if he lifts his second Queen's. To think about becoming number one again, he will have to wait for the American hard court tour, culminating with the US Open on September 7.