Carlos Alcaraz secured a second ATP title of 2026 after defeating Arthur Fils in the Qatar Open final last Saturday.
Alcaraz had already become the youngest man to win the ‘Career Grand Slam’ by capturing the Australian Open title, while also equalling the Grand Slam totals of John McEnroe and Mats Wilander.
Alcaraz has now won his first 12 matches to start 2026, and who would bet against him continuing that streak into the near future?
What do you think is Carlos Alcaraz’s best surface and why?
The Spaniard has already been labelled a ‘legend’ by Rafael Nadal and he is seemingly on his way to becoming an all-time great of the sport.
However, the former coach of Matteo Berrettini believes there is still one question hanging on the Spaniard’s head.
Vincenzo Santopadre’s question for Carlos Alcaraz: How long will it last?
Vincenzo Santopadre, the former world number 100 and former coach of Matteo Berrettini, has weighed in on Carlos Alcaraz’s recent achievements while speaking to Italian broadcaster Supertennis TV.
“Alcaraz wins and has fun, but a question mark remains on him. How long will it last?” said Santopadre, as reported by Corriere dello Sport.
“You can see that he has fun, when he is on the field, when he trains and when he plays a tournament. He doesn’t have fun just because he wins, it would be too easy. He likes what he does.
“The only question mark is to see how long all this will last. The greatness of Federer, Djokovic and Nadal is that they continued to have very high stimuli despite all the trophies raised to heaven.
“This is the only unknown, because it plays so well and is complete. It’s unplayable.
“The good ones take advantage of the elasticity of the low moments to bounce higher. Alcaraz has also matured in the way he lives the difficulties.
Which member of the ‘Big Three’ is Carlos Alcaraz most similar to? Let us know why below👇
“He won complicated matches in Australia with both Djokovic and Alexander Zverev. In Doha, excluding the final, he played several hard-fought sets.
“Now he lives the difficulties well. The statistics have not changed: it is a very strong figure.”
Alcaraz is the youngest player in men’s tennis history to win seven Grand Slam singles tournaments.
Nadal, Federer and Djokovic cannot match Alcaraz in this respect: all three players won six or fewer Grand Slam titles before the age of 23.
| Player | Grand Slams won before the age of 23 |
| Carlos Alcaraz | 7 |
| Rafael Nadal | 6 |
| Roger Federer | 3 |
| Novak Djokovic | 1 |
When is the Indian Wells draw?
Carlos Alcaraz will find out his Indian Wells draw on Monday, March 2.
The Spaniard, who won the title in 2023 and 2024, was knocked out in the semi-finals of last year’s event by eventual champion Jack Draper.
Alcaraz will be the top seed at this year’s event, and he will hope this seeding contributes towards receiving a favourable draw.
As reported by MARCA, the Spaniard has returned to training before travelling to Indian Wells for his first match.
His first match is expected to be on March 6 or 7.
