‘The stats don’t lie’ – Carlos Alcaraz reaches career milestone faster than ALL 27 ATP world number ones
Teen sensation Carlos Alcaraz has had a meteoric rise this season, leading him to 50 career ATP tour victories faster than any of the 27 historic ATP number ones.
The 18-year-old has made incredible strides this season, with the man from Murcia becoming the youngest player to win an ATP 500 event in the history of the tournament format.
He also became the youngest ever Miami Open champion by winning the Masters 1000 event in early April.
Alcaraz now sits in eleventh place in the ATP rankings as he aims to break into the top 10 for the first time.
However, one record which has very much gone under the radar is that when Alcaraz claimed his 50th tour level win in the Miami Open semi-finals, he did so only having lost 20 matches.
That meant that the young Spaniard reached 50 ATP tour wins faster than any of the 27 men to have been world number one since rankings began in 1973.
The closest to Alcaraz’s record is former US Open champion Andy Roddick, who lost just 22 matches to reach 50 wins.
Other legends of the game such as John McEnroe, Jimmy Connors and Juan Carlos Ferrero (Alcaraz’s coach) all reached 50 wins after 73 matches.
Commenting on the ridiculous stat, Brad Gilbert, former world number four and ex-coach of the likes of Roddick and Andy Murray, believes that even though success is not guaranteed for Carlos Alcaraz he is off to an incredible start in his career.
He told the ATP tour: “[Alcaraz] obviously started playing young, but so did so many others and he’s played a lot of tournaments and matches already.
“The greatest thing about the stats and the computers is they don’t lie.
“Whether or not he gets to what some of these other lofty people who were on there did is yet to be seen.
“But it’s an amazing start.
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