“I think now I’d say it’s my favourite. I simply missed clay,” Carlos Alcaraz confessed earlier this month, just before stepping onto the red dirt at the Monte-Carlo Masters to face Francisco Cerúndolo. At that point, he hadn’t lifted a Masters trophy all year, with a SF loss in Indian Wells and a stunning early exit in Miami casting shadows over his 2025 campaign. But champions rise from setbacks, and Alcaraz did just that, storming through the Monte-Carlo draw to clinch the title spectacularly. Now, with his rhythm reignited and confidence soaring before Roland-Garros, the Spaniard is embracing the clay with open arms, and even his Italian rival Jannik Sinner nodded in agreement! However, what did the Spaniard say this time?

Remember when a 16-year-old Carlos Alcaraz stunned the tennis world by securing his 1st ATP Tour win on clay, defeating fellow Spaniard Albert Ramos-Viñolas at the Rio Open in 2020? That was his debut in a major draw, and he wasted no time making headlines. Just a year later, he captured his maiden ATP title on the same surface in Umag, signaling the rise of a new clay-court champion. His first win over a top seed came in Madrid in 2022, against none other than Novak Djokovic. Fast forward to today, and clay has become Alcaraz’s kingdom. He’s clinched 9 titles on the surface, more than on any other, three more than on hard courts, and a full six more than on grass.

Even when the title slips away, his consistency on clay is unmatched. Out of 25 clay-court tournaments, he played, Alcaraz has made it to the QF 18 times, the SF 16 times, and the final in 13 of them: an extraordinary rate of reaching the title match in half his appearances. His passion and hunger for success on clay were evident once again in recent footage, drawing praise from rival Jannik Sinner, who acknowledged the Spaniard’s relentless dominance on red dirt.

A recent post by popular X page ‘The Tennis Letter’ resurfaced unforgettable footage from last year’s Roland Garros SF, played beneath a golden sunset on Court Philippe-Chatrier. In the gripping clip, Carlos Alcaraz is seen declaring with raw intensity, “If you wanna take me out, you’re gonna have to take me out on a stretcher,” encapsulating his warrior spirit on clay. Jannik Sinner, his opponent that day, praised Alcaraz’s resilience, saying, “He was much better than me to find a way to win. This shows how mentally strong Carlos is!”

In that match, Carlos Alcaraz reached his 1st Roland Garros final after outlasting Jannik Sinner 2-6, 6-3, 3-6, 6-4, 6-3 in a gripping SF showdown in Paris. The match saw momentum swings and physical struggles, with Sinner battling a hand cramp midway through. Despite the setback, the Italian surged ahead, but Alcaraz responded with brilliance in the 4th and fifth sets. The Spaniard’s relentless aggression and 65 winners proved decisive, especially a key forehand that broke Sinner early in the decider. After 4 hours and 10 minutes of high-octane tennis, Alcaraz clinched victory on his third match point and basked in the crowd’s deafening applause.

“You have to find the joy in suffering. That is the key, even more here on clay at Roland Garros. Long rallies, four-hour matches, five sets. You have to fight, you have to suffer, but as I told my team, you have to enjoy suffering,” Carlos even admitted after the match. 

And beyond just excelling on clay, Alcaraz is now proudly carrying forward Spain’s legacy in the elite ATP top seed club.

Carlos Alcaraz opened up after achieving the top seed rank

Spain has quietly become a powerhouse in men’s tennis over the past 26 years, adding more members to the ATP top seed Club than any other nation. No Spanish male tennis player achieved the number one ranking in the ATP Rankings during the first 25 years following its 1973 inception. That changed in 1999 when Carlos Moya broke through, paving the way for Juan Carlos Ferrero, Rafael Nadal, and now Carlos Alcaraz to follow suit. With Nadal’s retirement in November 2024, Alcaraz stands as the sole active Spaniard to have reached the top spot, proudly carrying the torch for his nation.

This week, Alcaraz returns to the Mutua Madrid Open: a tournament where his journey began with a wildcard in 2021, ranked just 120th. Back then, he faced his idol, Nadal, in a humbling loss. But by 2022, he returned as a Top 10 seed and exacted revenge, defeating Nadal, Djokovic, and Zverev en route to the title. That same year, he won the US Open and became the youngest world top seed in ATP history at 19 years and four months.

“I never thought that I was going to achieve something like that at 19 years old. Everything came so fast. For me it’s unbelievable. It’s something I dreamed of since I was a kid,” Alcaraz said at that time. 

The second seed will be looking to harness the home crowd’s energy from the bottom half of the draw. The Murcia native begins his Madrid Open campaign against either Belgium’s Zizou Bergs or Japan’s Yoshihito Nishioka, aiming to build on his strong clay-court form. Could this be the year he lifts the Madrid trophy again to carry that momentum into Roland-Garros? What do you think?