Carlos Alcaraz, a countercultural prodigy

Andy Roddick, former number one, compared him to Andre Agassi and defined his game as that of an "animal".

The famous John McEnroe extols his "incredible talent" and predicts that he will win many greats, thanks to his "heart" and his "faith".

Rafael Nadal agrees, and highlights his "energy, passion and determination".

And the legendary Martina Navratilova refers to the present, nothing of the future, and places her right now in the same stratum as the Balearic, Novak Djokovic and Daniil Medvedev.

Meanwhile, Carlos Alcaraz (El Palmar, Murcia; 18 years old) is already back in Spain after becoming the youngest champion in the history of the Miami Masters and fueling the theory that tennis is facing one of those out of series that escape normality.

Favorable environment.

Alcaraz, raised in a Murcian district of 25,000 inhabitants, describes himself as "a boy from the village and family" who grew up in a healthy atmosphere.

His father Carlos was also a tennis player and directs the school where his son was trained;

His mother Virginia is a former employee of a department store and he is the second of four brothers, Álvaro (21 years old), Sergio (11) and Jaime (9).

Whenever he can, he gets together with his usual friends and, having recently got his driver's license, he will now have more facilities to escape from Villena, where he trains.

There, at the academy, he resides in a 90-square-meter bungalow and polishes himself without distractions.

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Juan Carlos Ferrero: a capital shadow.

The relationship between him and his coach transcends the professional.

There is demand, but also friendship.

In addition to hours and hours of training, they share confidences and good humor, and they often get into a fight playing golf.

The former number one advises the tennis player since 2018, when he was only 15 years old, and has managed to balance and channel a boy who is still discovering the ins and outs of professionalism.

Ferrero,

, has imposed order and routines on him to keep away the dispersion, and above all, emotionally guides him along the thorny path to the top.

On his day, being also very young, the coach also exploded and acquired great dimension.

Alcaraz hugs Ferrero in the presence of his father, on the right. ERIK S. LESSER (EFE)

The team, large 'family'.

Around the tennis player gravitates a cast of ten people who take care of all the details.

A payroll like no other.

His agent, Albert Molina, supervises and facilitated the link with Ferrero;

Toni Cascales, mentor of the latter, advises behind the scenes;

the psychologist Isabel Balaguer coordinates the mental gymnastics and the trainers Alberto Lledó and Álex Sánchez sculpt her body, under the control of three physios, Juanjo Moreno, Fran Rubio and Sergio Hernández.

The general practitioner is Juan José López.

Depending on the needs, he has them at the academy in Villena, Murcia or when he travels the world.

More fiber than muscle.

The physical jump during the last half year is evident and fundamental to be able to face the highest level matches.

He has redesigned the diet (sushi, avocado, fish, grilled...) and takes supplementation to the letter and also breaks.

In terms of height (it measures 1.85), it does not respond to the current prototype (around 1.95), but it compensates with much greater mobility and dynamism.

It's a rocket.

Thin as a child, he maintains a slender figure but, contrary to what it conveys at first glance, fiber prevails in his frame over excessive musculature that could harm his joints.

Alcaraz serves during the final against Ruud. Geoff Burke (USA TODAY Sports)

Technique, tactics and imagination.

Gifted with a gift for the drop shot, he plays with a daring that stands in stark contrast to today's robotic tennis.

Pure power and acceleration.

His wrist slaps lift the tier off the chair.

"There are many players who play aggressively, like me, but there are not many who have so many resources or who want to go to the net every time, hit the ball hard or look for winning shots, and who want the game all the time," he said. difference.

He selects the shot like a veteran and interprets the game better and better.

Chess, one of his favorite hobbies, helps him in terms of concentration and strategy.

Hard head and the long-awaited cruising speed.

Dispersion, a logical deficit in a tennis player his age, accompanied him on his entry into the elite and made him lose some games that in other circumstances would not have escaped him.

One of the purposes of it is to achieve continuous cruising speed, the challenge of maintaining the highest level peaks for as long as possible.

In this sense, the layout of this season reveals a considerable jump and both in Indian Wells and in Miami he showed that he is tough as hell, the most precious intangible in tennis.

These days he came back from Tsitsipas (5-2 adverse), Kecmanovic (set against) and Ruud (3-0), and surrendered the tiebreaker to Serbian and Polish Hubert Hurkacz.

Alcaraz signs autographs for fans at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami. CHANDAN KHANNA (AFP)

Strong with the strong.

In his short experience on the ATP circuit, the Murcian has a positive balance (51 wins, 20 losses) that this year has reached a brilliant record: 18-2.

Only Matteo Berrettini (Australian Open) and Nadal (Indian Wells) have been able to beat him.

He has decided in his favor 23 of his last 25 games and his victory against Ruud in the Florida final confirms that he is gradually becoming a wall for the best;

in fact, he has won seven of the 13 matchups he's had so far with members of the

.

He took Nadal to the limit and openly says he wants to measure himself against Djokovic to gauge his current condition.

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Connection with the stands and media profile.

His boyish, acne-spotted face and good manners on and off the court resonate with fans, who also appreciate his expressiveness during games.

It also hooks brands.

Nike signed him two years ago to promote his garments – even playing sleeveless, as Nadal did in his day – and he has also signed contracts with Babolat (racket) or Rolex (watch).

Internationally sought after, in February he starred on the cover of

magazine , becoming the youngest protagonist who has ever posed in the Spanish edition.

Almost 600,000 people follow him on Instagram and 100,000 on Twitter.

Football, naps and tennis videos.

A Real Madrid fan, he sometimes emulates Cristiano Ronaldo's gestures by nodding in celebration of the point.

He shares a friendship with his countryman Gonzalo Villar, on loan from Roma to Getafe, and was congratulated by the white club after winning in Miami.

As a child, his first coach, Carlos Santos, baptized him as

: "Because on the track he was like the character in the jungle, in his house."

His grandfather Carlos, the first member of the Country Club that his father now runs in El Palmar, collects clippings about his grandson since he began to stand out.

He listens to reggaeton, his favorite actor is Will Smith and he enjoys the

.

She usually sleeps 20 minutes before jumping on the court, she studies English and spends hours and hours watching historic tennis matches on YouTube.

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