Carlos Alcaraz still has doubters despite blistering start to the season

Carlos Alcaraz collected his second ATP title of 2026 last weekend, beating Arthur Fils in the Qatar Open final.

He’d already become the youngest man to complete the career Grand Slam by winning in Melbourne and matched the major hauls of John McEnroe and Mats Wilander.

With a 12-0 start to the season, it wouldn’t surprise many if he kept that run going for a while yet. The Spaniard has already been called a “legend” by Rafael Nadal and seems well on his way to joining tennis’ list of all-time greats.

Even so, one question mark remains for Alcaraz, according to Matteo Berrettini’s former coach.

Carlos Alcaraz still has questions to answer

Vincenzo Santopadre, the former world number 100 and previous coach of Matteo Berrettini, recently commented on Carlos Alcaraz’s rapid rise while speaking to Italian broadcaster Supertennis TV.

“Alcaraz wins and has fun, but a question mark remains on him. How long will it last?” said Santopadre, as reported by Corriere dello Sport.

“You can see that he has fun when he is on the field, when he trains and when he plays a tournament. He doesn’t have fun just because he wins, it would be too easy. He likes what he does.

“The only question mark is to see how long all this will last. The greatness of Federer, Djokovic and Nadal is that they continued to have very high stimuli despite all the trophies raised to heaven.

“This is the only unknown because it plays so well and is complete. It’s unplayable.

“The good ones take advantage of the elasticity of the low moments to bounce higher. Alcaraz has also matured in the way he lives the difficulties.”

The young Spaniard has already reached seven Grand Slam titles faster than anyone else in history, a pace unmatched by even Rafael Nadal at his age.

When will Carlos Alcaraz learn his draw for Indian Wells?

Carlos Alcaraz will find out his path at Indian Wells on Monday, March 2.

The Spaniard, who lifted the title in both 2023 and 2024, was stopped in last year’s semi-finals by Jack Draper, who went on to win the tournament.

This time around, Alcaraz heads in as the top seed and will be hoping that helps him land a more favourable draw.

According to MARCA, he’s already back in training ahead of making the trip to Indian Wells.

His opening match is expected to take place on either March 6 or 7.

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