‘I’m reaching my dream’ – Carlos Alcaraz reacts to breaking top five
Carlos Alcaraz is both amazed at his rankings progress and motivated to climb even higher after breaking into the top five of the ATP rankings.
With his run to the final of Hamburg, Alcaraz became the youngest man inside the top five since his idol Rafael Nadal achieved the feat aged 18 in 2005.
Despite losing that final to fellow Next Gen star Lorenzo Musetti, the 19-year-old Spaniard is proud of his achievement.
“It means a lot,” Alcaraz told ATPTour.com. “The hard work that I put in every day for reaching my dreams, [becoming number one], and little by little I’m reaching my dream. Top five for me is pretty amazing and I will keep going to be number one.”
At 19 years, two months and 20 days old, Alcaraz still has more than a year to become the youngest world number one in ATP history.
That record was set more than 20 years ago by two-time Slam champion Lleyton Hewitt, when he topped the men’s ladder for the first time on 19th November 2001 at 20 years, eight months and 26 days old.
That means Alcaraz has until January 2024 to break the record, roughly the time of that year’s Australian Open.
Right now, the teen talent must refocus for another first in his career, a title defence.
That comes in Umag, Croatia, the site of his first tour title last summer.
“Of course, Umag is a special tournament for me,” Alcaraz expressed. “I got my first title there, so I’m defending the title this year. But I’m going to try to play my best and of course take lessons from here.”
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