Carlos Alcaraz, a Spanish teenager, became the youngest person to reach the top of the world rankings on Sunday after winning his first Grand Slam tournament at the US Open.
In the championship match, the 19-year-old dragged his body to a 6-4, 2-6, 7-6 (7-1), 6-3 triumph over Norway’s Casper Ruud.
A performance that produced 55 wins and 14 aces made Alcaraz, the first teenager to hold the top position, the youngest Grand Slam men’s champion since countryman Rafael Nadal at the 2005 French Open. When Nadal defeated Argentine Mariano Puerta in the championship match, he was 19 years and two days old.
He is the youngest champion in New York since Pete Sampras in 1990 on a day filled with historic events. Sampras defeated Andre Agassi to win his maiden Grand Slam championship at the age of 19 years, 28 days.
He broke the record established by Lleyton Hewitt, who was 20 when he reached No. 1 in 2001, becoming the youngest world No. 1 since the ATP rankings’ inception in 1973. He displaced the Russian Daniil Medvedev at the top of the rankings.
And he wants to make sure he stays in charge.
“This is something I dreamed of since I was a kid, to be No. 1 in the world, to be the champion at a Grand Slam,” In an on-court interview, Alcaraz stated.
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