Alcaraz in 2024: Channel Slam and Olympics silver but still an “eight and a half” season
The Spaniard had a few too many completely off days, resulting in him finishing the calendar year as world No 3
© SOPA Images/SIPA
He won two Grand Slam titles, a Masters 1000 title and an Olympic silver, but Carlos Alcaraz still rated his season “eight and a half or nine”. And he leaned towards eight and a half, which only goes to show how high a standard the Spaniard holds himself to, but also the expectations that the tennis world has for this—many people forget—21-year-old.
When close to his best, Alcaraz is almost unplayable, a walking highlight reel resembling a video game, leaving fans stunned and his opponents shrugging in disbelief. On the other hand, with Jannik Sinner’s consistency now being the measuring stick, Alcaraz had a few too many completely off days this season—the most obvious being the Australian Open quarter-finals loss to Alexander Zverev—which resulted in him ending the year at No 3 in the world.
Following Rod Laver, Bjorn Borg, Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic, Alcaraz became only the sixth player in history to win the Channel Slam—Roland Garros and Wimbledon in the same year. He came back from 2-1 down in the French Open final against 6-3, 2-6, 5-7, 6-1, 6-2, whereas he dominated Novak Djokovic at Wimbledon 6-2 6-2 7-6(4).
What was most frightening for the rest of the field is that Alcaraz wasn’t playing at his best for the most part of these two title runs, but still managed to find his groove when he needed to, a trait displayed by seasoned champions but rarely seen at such a young age.
One of the finest weeks of Alcaraz’s season came in Indian Wells, where he captured his second consecutive title, beating Zverev, Sinner and Daniil Medvedev en route.
Alcaraz played extremely well throughout the Olympics, but he was outdone by Djokovic in what was arguably the best match of the year. It proved to be the most painful defeat of the year for the Spaniard—he was a shadow of himself in Cincinnati and at the US Open before recovering his motivation and winning his fourth title of the year in Beijing.
Alcaraz is the first to admit that his indoor tennis needs work, but to his defense, he caught a flu in Turin. He still managed to win one match, but didn’t make it out of the group before losing with Spain in the Davis Cup quarterfinals to Netherlands, despite him winning his single match against Tallon Griekspoor.
Greatest Win: Not win, but wins! The Sinner-Alcaraz rivalry will probably mark the next decade or more in tennis, and the Spaniard had the upper hand in 2024, winning all three of their meetings—coming back from a set down in Indian Wells and Beijing, and 1-2 down at Roland Garros. That must boost his confidence ahead of 2025.
What If Moment: If Alcaraz didn’t catch the flu in Turin, maybe we would’ve seen another match against Sinner, but OK, we’ll see plenty of those in the future.
Look Ahead: Sometimes, picking higher percentage solutions without compromising his offensive-minded brand of tennis and being a bit more consistent—these are some of the things Alcaraz will look to do in order to further evolve as a player. As for the goals, he has said it numerous times—the bigger the titles, the better, and he’s proved he’s got the game to back up his words, with experience piling up too.
