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On the Quiet Hardcourts in Spain, Carlos Alcaraz’s Star Was Already Shining

No matter how clear the potential, you never truly know what a tennis player is capable of until they have to fight for the biggest points on the biggest occasions.

Carlos Alcaraz beat Casper Rudd in four sets to win the U.S. Open men’s singles title Sunday.Credit...Karsten Moran for The New York Times

In December, when I visited Carlos Alcaraz and his coach, Juan Carlos Ferrero, at the academy where they are based in the stark countryside of Villena, Spain, both calmly and reasonably explained that the goal for 2022 was to break into the top 15.