At the age of 22, how has Carlos Alcaraz compared to tennis legends?

Defending US Open champion Jannik Sinner, who has been praised by experts for his illustrious form on hard courts over the past two years, was completely outclassed in the final by Carlos Alcaraz. The Spaniard played as if he were "from another planet", defeating Sinner 6-2, 3-6, 6-1, 6-4 to lift the trophy at Flushing Meadows.

Even Sinner admitted he was in a “crisis and needed to restructure his game” to catch up with Alcaraz. The 22-year-old champion said: “I played a perfect match. This was the best tournament of my career. The stability of my performance at a high level is the result of constant training.”

At just 22 years old, Alcaraz is already being touted as one of the greatest tennis players in history. But at his age, where does he really stand compared to the legends of tennis?

Ability to dominate any field

Joining the ATP Tour at the age of 16, Alcaraz immediately impressed with his diverse and versatile playing style: from low slices, to stormy forehands or skillful drop shots that constantly surprised opponents and left audiences breathless.

But what makes him special is his ability to conquer all surfaces. To date, Alcaraz has won 6 Grand Slams on all three types of surfaces: hard, grass and clay, something in men's tennis that only Rafael Nadal (24), Mats Wilander (24) and Novak Djokovic (34) have achieved at a later age.

Alcaraz's speed in accumulating major titles is also staggering: it took him just 19 Grand Slam appearances to win six trophies, the second fastest in history after Bjorn Borg (18).

In history, only Bjorn Borg has won 6 Grand Slams at a younger age than Alcaraz, with 3 Roland Garros titles on clay and 3 Wimbledon titles on grass. Rafael Nadal also reached the milestone of 6 Grand Slams at the age of 22 (a few months earlier than Alcaraz). Meanwhile, other legends such as Pete Sampras (5), Mats Wilander (4), Roger Federer (3) or Novak Djokovic (1) have not been able to match Alcaraz's achievements at the same age."

Alcaraz won his first Grand Slam at the 2022 US Open at just 19, then followed it up with Wimbledon in 2023. He has won two major titles each year for the past two seasons. If he keeps up this pace, Alcaraz could reach Djokovic's 24 Grand Slams by 2034, when he will be just 31 and still have a long career ahead of him.

His major win rate also shows that Alcaraz has entered the legendary ranks. In 2025, Alcaraz will equal Nadal's record for most Grand Slams in a year and will be behind only Bjorn Borg for Grand Slam win rate before the age of 23.

Advanced serve weapon

Alcaraz's serve has never been a weakness, but in New York, he turned it into a devastating weapon. Against Sinner, the 22-year-old hit 10 aces, raising his average serve speed from 113 mph to 120 mph, from the opening match against Reilly Opelka to the final against Sinner. He also hit the fastest serve of the final at 134 mph.

Throughout the tournament, Alcaraz won 84% of his first serve points and 63% of his second serve points, the highest figures in the tournament. Compared to Roland Garros and Wimbledon in the same year, where he won and lost to Sinner respectively in the finals, the difference in serving speed was extremely obvious.

Even more amazing, Alcaraz only lost one set in the entire tournament, having his serve broken three times over the two weeks of play, the second best record in Grand Slam history since Sampras (twice) won Wimbledon in 1997. In fact, the 2025 US Open champion only faced 10 break points in the entire tournament, the fewest by a Grand Slam champion since 1991.

Towards 'invincibility'

Despite claiming this was one of the best performances of his career, Carlos Alcaraz believes he can still reach new heights. The 2025 US Open champion said: “At 22, it’s hard to say I’ve reached my maximum level. I’ll improve step by step towards that. My best version is yet to come.”

That statement was like a warning to the rest of the ATP Tour: if Alcaraz can get even better, who will be able to stop him from dominating tennis?

In fact, as perfect as Alcaraz is, he still has some rare “holes”. He sometimes goes through periods of inconsistency, making unnecessary mistakes. The final against Sinner is a typical example: Alcaraz’s only set loss came from 11 unforced errors, compared to just 2 in the other sets.

But if he can eliminate this "mismatch", the 22-year-old tennis player will become a true "destruction machine", not giving his opponent a chance to get back into the match.

What’s even more frightening is Alcaraz’s ability to continually upgrade. Just look at how he improved his serve in New York: from a steady weapon to a sledgehammer that crushes all obstacles.

In the final, Alcaraz even hit shots that exceeded 100 mph in the rallies, a speed that is rare, especially when facing Sinner, a player known for his powerful shots. If he maintains that incredible speed on a regular basis, Carlos Alcaraz could reach "invincible" status.