Alcaraz posts impressive milestones compared to 27 former world number ones

The 18-year-old Spaniard recently became the youngest Miami Open presented by Itau champion in tournament history.

This week in Barcelona the World No. 11 has the chance to crack the Top 10 of the ATP Rankings for the first time. Impressive as that is, Alcaraz has also set a new milestone that has gone under the radar. When the reigning Intesa Sanpaolo Next Gen ATP Finals champion earned his 50th tour-level win in the Miami semi-finals, he had just 20 losses.

According to the Infosys ATP Win/Loss Index, that’s a faster clip than the 27 players to reach World No. 1. On Alcaraz, Brad Gilbert said:

“He obviously started playing young, but so did so many others and he’s played a lot of tournaments and matches already. The greatest thing about the stats and the computers is they don’t lie. Whether or not he gets to what some of these other lofty people who were on there is yet to be seen. But it’s an amazing start.”

But such a quick start is not a guarantee Alcaraz will reach World No. 1, and not all players who have climbed to the top have enjoyed a good start to their tour-level career. Roger Federer was 50-47, yet he has held World No. 1 longer than anyone in history except Novak Djokovic.

Gilbert concluded:

“It’ll be fun to watch the next few years. But the greatness of tennis is that nothing is guaranteed.”