ATP Player News
How Carlos Alcaraz’s parents shaped his journey from Murcia to the top of the sport
Alcaraz credits his parents’ values and family life for shaping his rise to the top and focus daily.
Carlos Alcaraz’s rapid ascent was built on natural talent and a family environment rooted in tennis. Tipped from a young age to be a special player, he made his ATP Tour main draw debut at 16 in February 2020 and captured his maiden singles title the following year. The 2022 campaign announced him to the world: four titles in the first half of the season, including two ATP Masters 1000 trophies, and a first Grand Slam at the US Open in September. On the back of that success he became the first teenager to top the ATP Rankings and the youngest player to finish the year as world No 1.
Born on 5 May 2003 in El Palmar, Murcia, Spain, Alcaraz is the son of Carlos Alcaraz Gonzalez and Virginia Garfia Escandon and has three brothers: an older brother, Alvaro, and two younger brothers, Sergio and Jaime. His father is a former professional player who reached a career-high of No 963 in 1990 and later worked as a tennis academy director at the Real Sociedad Club de Campo de Murcia. Young Carlos began playing at that same club “as soon as he could hold a racket.” One of his early coaches recalled that even at four or five years old he showed extraordinary promise: “He began to play with his dad, and one day [his father] asked me to watch him. This kid, at four, five years old, was spectacular,” Kiko Navarro, one of Alcaraz Jr’s early coaches, told the Guardian. “I knew from very young that he was incredible. I’m not going to say that I was thinking he was going to be world No 1 but I knew that I had a really good and different player on my hands.”
Carlos Alcaraz Gonzalez has run the Carlos Alcaraz Tennis Academy by Reina at the Tiro de Pichón for nearly three decades and has become a major sponsor since his son’s rise. Virginia Garfia has generally kept a low profile but has attended several high-profile matches, including the 2024 US Open final win over Casper Ruud, the 2024 French Open victory over Alexander Zverev and the Wimbledon title runs in 2023 and 2024; she was notably seen celebrating after the 2023 semi-final win over Daniil Medvedev. In a 2022 interview Carlos said: “Obviously, my parents control the money for me. To buy some golf clubs, which I love; I don’t ask permission, but for a good car, yes. I’m still fighting it.
“My father is tougher and my mother less, so to go out and those things I tell my mother. I don’t have time as such, but they always tell me ‘don’t be late’. As much as I try not to make any noise when I get home, they always wake up and catch me.” In the Netflix documentary Carlos Alcaraz: My Way, released in early 2025, he revealed he still lives with his parents and that his mother’s cooking is “another reason why I like to be at home”. His brother Alcaro added: “He really is a family guy. he loved being with his childhood friends at the party because it’s when he’s the most relaxed and can really be himself.
“Please know that no matter how famous you decide you want to be, that you’ll always be my little brother and I’ll slap you over the head if you get all full of yourself.”
ATP
Sinner’s serve numbers reveal a mixed picture despite his dominance
Sinner’s serve stats show elite power, but his first-serve percentage still leaves room for growth.
Jannik Sinner’s serve has long been viewed as a major part of his rise to the top of the men’s game, yet the numbers from the past year tell a more complicated story.
The world No 1 adjusted his service motion shortly before he began establishing himself as a leading force on the ATP Tour, and that weapon stood out again when he defended his Wimbledon title earlier this month.
After losing the US Open final to Carlos Alcaraz last September, Sinner made it clear that he wanted more variety and consistency on serve. His own words at the time showed how deliberate that change was:
“I can say that I’m gonna become a better tennis player and I’m gonna change a couple of things on the serve, just small things, but, they can make big differences and then we see how it goes,” said Sinner. after that defeat against Alcaraz in New York.
“I’m looking forward to play these matches again, something new is now that I’m not No 1 anymore. Now you chase, it’s different.
“Maybe I will lose some matches from now on, but I will try to do some changes, trying to be a bit more unpredictable as a player and because I think that’s what I have to do, trying to become a better tennis player.”
Even with his strong recent run, the ATP Tour figures for the last 12 months show that there is still work to be done in one area. Sinner ranks 35th in first serve percentage at 63.8%, well behind Alexander Zverev, who leads the list at 72.5%.
The Italian, however, is far more dominant once the first serve lands. He leads the tour in service points won at 80.9%, just ahead of Reilly Opelka on 80.8% and Taylor Fritz on 79.7%.
He also tops service games won at 92.9%, underlining how difficult he is to break. Opelka follows on 90.6%, with Ben Shelton third at 90.4% and Alcaraz at 89.9%.
One remaining area is ace production. Sinner is 27th in that category with an average of 8.2 per match, while Opelka leads with 18.5, followed by Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard on 15.1 and Fritz on 14.1.
ATP
Sinner climbs to No 4 on all-time prize money list after Wimbledon defence
Sinner’s Wimbledon defence lifts him to No 4 on the all-time prize money list in 2026.
Jannik Sinner’s successful Wimbledon title defence brought more than another major trophy. It also lifted the Italian to No 4 on the all-time career prize money list.
Before Wimbledon 2026, Sinner sat at No 6, with Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer occupying the top three spots and Alexander Zverev and Carlos Alcaraz positioned above him. Zverev had recently passed both Alcaraz and Sinner after his French Open run, but the order shifted again once Sinner collected $4,830,756 (£3,600,000) for his latest Wimbledon triumph.
That result leaves Sinner close to becoming only the fourth player to move beyond $70m in career prize money. He has already earned $11,620,364 in 2026 and is on track to break the $20m barrier for the first time in a season.
His rise has been rapid. Last year, he took in $19,120,641, a total that included a record $5,071,000 for winning the ATP Finals undefeated. He finished second on the 2025 earnings list behind Alcaraz, who made $21,354,778, after leading the way in 2024 with $19,735,703.
At the end of the 2024 season, Sinner stood on $37,238,688. Since the start of the 2025 campaign, he has added another $32,347,873. From just $36 in prize money in his first professional year, he now sits on $69,586,561.
Zverev is fifth with $68,392,312, while Alcaraz is on $64,997,598 after not adding to his tally since April because of injury. Andy Murray has fallen to No 7 on $64,687,542, with Daniil Medvedev eighth on $52,192,594. Djokovic, Sinner, Zverev, Alcaraz and Medvedev are the only active players to have passed $40m.
Djokovic remains far ahead in first place with $194,656,816, including $3,000,801 earned in 2026. Nadal is second on $134,946,100 and Federer third on $130,594,339.
ATP French Open Grand Slam
Auger-Aliassime Reaches Career-High No. 4 After Breakthrough at Roland Garros
Auger-Aliassime rises to No. 4 after best Roland Garros run, tying second-highest Canadian rank. Now
Felix Auger-Aliassime moved to a career-high No. 4 in the ATP rankings following his deepest run at Roland Garros, where the 25-year-old reached the quarterfinals for the first time before losing to eventual finalist Flavio Cobolli. The result completed a personal Grand Slam milestone: having previously reached the quarterfinals or better at the Australian Open, Wimbledon and the US Open, he became the first Canadian man to reach the quarterfinals or better at all four majors in his career.
The rise from No. 6 to No. 4 surpasses his prior best of No. 5 and places him tied for the second-highest-ranked Canadian in ATP or WTA rankings history. The only other Canadians to reach the top four are Milos Raonic and Bianca Andreescu. Raonic went as high as No. 3 in 2016, following his run to the Wimbledon final that year, and Andreescu peaked at No. 4 in 2019 after winning the US Open.
Canadian tennis has seen seven players reach the top 10 in either ATP or WTA history, with official rankings available since 1973 for the ATP and 1975 for the WTA.
Auger-Aliassime still has ground to cover to move higher in the standings. He is 2,865 points behind the current world No. 3, Alexander Zverev, with the rankings showing Zverev at 7,305 points and Auger-Aliassime at 4,440.
The Canadian will shift his focus to grass. He begins his grass-court season this week at the ATP 250 event in ‘s-Hertogenbosch, entering as the No. 1 seed. After a first-round bye he will open against either Hubert Hurkacz or Marton Fucsovics.
The new ranking reflects a season of important progress for Auger-Aliassime and cements his place among the highest-ranked Canadians in modern tennis history.
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