2024 ATP Player of the Year Countdown, No. 2: Carlos Alcaraz

2024, by the Numbers

• 54-13: Overall win-loss record
• 19-2: Grand Slam win-loss record (AO QF, RG 🏆, W 🏆, USO 2R)
• 4: Titles (Indian Wells, Roland Garros, Wimbledon, Beijing)
• 1: Runner-ups (Paris Summer Olympics 🥈)
• 3: Year-end ranking

The Story of the Season

It’s been an up-and-down season for Carlos Alcaraz, but after winning two Grand Slam trophies the 21-year-old has once again written his name into tennis history.

In a year defined by the rise of Jannik Sinner and absence of Novak Djokovic, Alcaraz left his mark by achieving a rare feat: winning Roland Garros and defending his Wimbledon title. The Spaniard is only the sixth man in the Open era to win Roland Garros and Wimbledon in the same year—joining Rod Laver, Bjorn Borg, Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer and Djokovic—and he’s also the youngest man ever to win Grand Slam titles on all three surfaces.

It marked an emphatic return to form for Alcaraz, who started the season having gone nine months without winning a title. After snapping that streak by defending his Indian Wells title, he opened up about the emotional toll of that period: “I didn't enjoy stepping on the court. I wasn't myself on the court the last, let's say, two or three months, so it was difficult for me.”

Alcaraz seemed to struggle mentally once again after coming up just short in the final of the Olympic Games in Paris, where he finished runner-up to Djokovic. But he was soon back to his winning ways in Beijing, defeating Sinner in the final, before eventually bowing out of the ATP Finals in the round robin stage.

“Every player wants to be in the final, wants to go as far as you can during the tournaments. This year, I've played great tournaments and really bad tournaments,” Alcaraz reflected in Turin. “My goal at the end is to be there all the time.”—Stephanie Livaudais

What’s to Come in 2025?

All eyes will naturally be on Alcaraz at the Australian Open, where he looks to complete a Career Grand Slam at the incredible age of 21. Whether that happens or not won’t define Alcaraz’s 2025 season. What will? Whether the Spaniard makes significant gains in an area he recently referenced as a needed growth area: his consistency.

“Probably in some matches I've played unbelievable points, unbelievable games. But in some matches when the chances (are) there, I miss a lot. I have to work on it,” Alcaraz said after getting knocked out at the Nitto ATP Finals.

Let’s not forget the remarkably high standard Alcaraz has set for himself by already surpassing 200 tour-level wins and finishing inside the year-end Top 3 for a third consecutive season. While he upgraded his past post-US Open results by triumphing in Beijing—where he improved to 3-0 against world No. 1 Jannik Sinner on the year—Carlitos closed at a modest 6-4.

Alcaraz may not produce as many highlight reel moments by seeking fewer peaks and valleys on the court, but it should in theory amount to more straightforward wins, fewer decisive losses (eight of his 12 completed defeats this year were in straight sets) and improving on his 58 percent success rate in 2024 tiebreakers. Reducing the toll on his body at the majors would go a long way, too, for he’s been forced to survive in five at least once during all four of his Grand Slam title runs.—Matt Fitzgerald