Top 5 ATP Players of 2022, No. 1: Carlos Alcaraz

WATCH: Tennis Channel Live discusses Carlos Alcaraz officially becoming the youngest year-end world No. 1.

Most Memorable Moment: Alcaraz capped off his unforgettable US Open with a victory over Casper Ruud in the final, and woke up the next day as the newly crowned ATP No. 1.

Missed Opportunity: Coming into Roland Garros as one of the title favorites after a dominant clay-court swing, he was outplayed by Alexander Zverev in the quarterfinals.

2023 Projection: If he stays injury-free, Alcaraz can become a Top 5 mainstay and finish what he started by lifting his second Grand Slam trophy in Paris.

In an effort to sum up Carlos Alcaraz's aggressive, creative, almost video-game-like style of play, the 19-year-old has been called “a tennis player created by A.I.”, He has been referred to as “a carefully nurtured plant,” in a nod to the world No. 1’s tight-knit, it-takes-a-village approach to his tennis career.

For coach Juan Carlos Ferrero, Alcaraz looked more like "a spaghetti” when the touted teenager first rocked up to his academy in southern Spain at the age of 15.

“He was very thin… no muscles at all,” Ferrero recalled, sitting in the press conference room inside Arthur Ashe Stadium less than an hour after his pupil’s US Open final victory. “We had to work, a lot.”

Over the course of nearly four years, the duo went about systematically setting goals for Alcaraz’s progress—and steadily charting a path to the top of men’s tennis with every milestone reached. And that includes the distinction of being named TENNIS.com’s 2022 ATP Player of the Year.

The first order of business: improving the teenager’s fitness. Already gifted with extraordinary technique and touch, young Alcaraz was overpowered and outran by his opponents because he lacked conditioning. Throughout 2021, the goal was to revamp his physique, making sure the teenager built up enough strength and stamina to hang week-in, week-out with the tour’s elite while also avoiding injury.

And the results don’t lie: In 2021, Alcaraz’s headline-grabbing US Open run came to an end in the quarterfinals, having to retire due to the toll of back-to-back five-setters. This year, he battled through three consecutive five-set marathons on his way to a maiden Grand Slam title in Flushing Meadows.

But even for Alcaraz, who rarely minds sharing his goals, targets and dreams, all with an easy grin, a victory at the US Open—or at any Grand Slam—wouldn’t have even been on the radar at the start of the year.

Ranked outside the Top 30 in January, Alcaraz had two goals for 2022: to finish inside the ATP Top 15, and to qualify for the Nitto ATP Finals for the first time. He ultimately went on to achieve both goals—but neither turned out the way he likely had planned.

I would say after Miami, I thought that I'm able to win a Grand Slam.

The turning point, Alcaraz would later reveal, came during the Miami Open.

“Before Miami, I was thinking that I have to still grow up,” Alcaraz reflected. “I thought that I'm able to have good results in a Grand Slam, but not a champion.

“But I would say after Miami, I thought that I'm able to win a Grand Slam.”

Alcaraz had to go through Marin Cilic, Stefanos Tsitsipas and defending champion Hubert Hurkacz just to reach his first ATP Masters 1000 final, before defeating Ruud in two sets. With the Miami victory sending the Spaniard to world No. 11, it was time for Team Alcaraz to adjust its targets. After all, if you can win six matches in a row against the world’s best, why not seven?

In Barcelona, Alcaraz became the youngest player since 18-year-old Rafael Nadal in 2005 to break the Top 10. Not one to shy away from comparisons to his childhood idol, Alcaraz seemed to delight in driving them home as he defeated Pablo Carreño Busta to win the title—he achieved the rankings milestone at the same tournament, on the same date (April 25) and in the same way, by defeating a countryman in the final.

In Nadal’s case, that had been Ferrero, who now coaches Alcaraz.

“I still don’t want to touch the ceiling—I don’t want to put limits on myself,” the teenager said after the final.

And just as well; a week later, he would defeat Nadal, oust Novak Djokovic and turn 19 on his way to another 1000-level title in Madrid.

Alcaraz’s myriad ways to dismantle an opponent and his ability to overcome obstacles en route to victory have earned him accolades and hardware, but his level-headed way of synthesizing a defeat is also impressive. Keenly aware of his timeline, Alcaraz prefers to focus on the big picture and take the useful learnings instead of lingering on could-have-beens.

“I would say I’m not far away from reaching a semifinal or being able to win a Grand Slam,” he said, shortly after the pre-tournament favorite bowed out in Paris after losing to Alexander Zverev in a fourth-set quarterfinal tiebreak. “Just [have to] take the lesson in these kinds of matches.”

That mental calmness was on full display during a lean summer—one that saw him reach his best results at Roland Garros (quarterfinals) and Wimbledon (fourth round), but go without a title despite reaching back-to-back finals in Hamburg and Umag. And it was also the difference-maker when the tour reached the chaotic bustle of the US Open, where he started out under the radar until his night matches became must-see viewing.

Alcaraz, who works with a psychologist and plays chess with his team as a pre-match ritual to cultivate mental strength, put together one of the most memorable Grand Slam fortnights in New York on his way to the title. He was taken the distance three times—against Cilic to reach the quarterfinals, Sinner in an instant-classic and Frances Tiafoe in an electric semifinal—and he regularly clocked in victories during the wee hours of the morning. For the rowdy few still in the stands at 2:50 a.m., Alcaraz still had plenty of energy left to give.

“Cabeza, corazón y cojones,” he said, repeating his mantra when asked how he pulled off the epic win against Sinner: Head, heart and balls.

With the No. 1 ranking on the line in the US Open final, Alcaraz overcame Ruud in four sets to become the first ever teenager to top the ATP Rankings since their inception in 1973. Coming just over two years after playing his first main-draw match, it was also the fastest ascent to world No. 1 ever—and that’s still counting the five-month tour stoppage due to COVID-19 that halted Alcaraz's initial progress in 2020.

“Since the moment that I started with him, I saw some things that were different than the other guys at his age,” Ferrero said. “I am still seeing it on the court. In important moments, he always [tries] to go for it. This is one of the more difficult things in tennis.”

Alcaraz would have to call time on his historic season ahead of schedule, suffering a torn oblique in November that kept him from making his Nitto ATP Finals debut despite qualifying. But he got the ultimate consolation prize, in the form of the ATP's year-end No. 1 ranking.

Since the moment that I started with him, I saw some things that were different than the other guys at his age. Juan Carlos Ferrero on Carlos Alcaraz

With five titles from seven finals and a 57-13 record to his name, Alcaraz’s record-breaking season has earned him a place in the tennis history books—and the title of TENNIS.com 2022 ATP Player of the Year.

The Spaniard already speaks candidly of the bullseye that will surely be on his back the next year. But, like always, Alcaraz and his village of a team have set out a series of new goals to work towards.

“Next season is going to be different for me. I’m not going to be one of the guys who is climbing up, I’m there, so this season will be a different mentality,” Alcaraz recently told The National.

“I have to be prepared to stay strong the whole year because I’ll be going to lots of tournaments as the favorite. Everyone wants to beat me so I have to be prepared for that.”