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At the BNP Paribas Open 2023, Carlos Alcaraz achieved a new great achievement in his young career. Victory of the Californian ATP Masters 1000 title, the third ATP Masters 1000 of his career, beating another Grand Slam champion and former world number one, Daniil Medvedev, in straight sets in the final.
With this success, the Spanish tennis player also regained the top of the ranking, overtaking Novak Djokovic, the man who had stolen it from him the day after his victory at the Australian Open. The tennis world congratulated the Spanish baby: a social message from Nadal, followed by the words of Djokovic, who commented on the overtaking that took place while he was not at Indian Wells.
But the no.1 Race, however, is by no means over. Everything will depend on the Miami Open. Carlos Alcaraz, in fact, arrives in Miami as a career champion, after winning the first ATP 1000 title of his career by beating Casper Ruud in the final, becoming one of the youngest winners of a Masters 1000.
Given the defense of all these points, the Spanish tennis player, winner of the last US Open, will need to defend his title in order to still remain number one in the world. Otherwise, the Belgrade tennis player will take back the position he held for a number of weeks that no one has reached.
The Sunshine Double
Therefore, for Alcaraz to reach the top of the ranking, he needs to achieve a goal that few have managed: to win the Sunshine Double, the victory of both US 1000 tournaments in the same year. Only ten men tennis players have succeeded in this feat, six women instead.
The king of this brace is Novak Djokovic, who did it for four years: in 2011, 2014, 2015 and 2016. The last to have done so, however, is Roger Federer, in 2017, for the third time in his career; same year he won Indian Wells without leaving a set in the course, just like Carlos Alcaraz. On the podium is Steffi Graf, author of this double in 1994 and 1996.
