Do we like Carlos Alcaraz?
Our score: 7 out of 10. A clean record on harm and a real foundation for kids, held back because the record is thin on causes and he has taken Saudi money.
Carlos Alcaraz grew up in El Palmar, Murcia, the second of four brothers. His dad was a former pro who ran the tennis academy at the local club, so young Carlos was around rackets as soon as he could hold one. That small-town, family-first start still shapes how he comes across.
He rose fast, and the AP says he and coach Juan Carlos Ferrero won six Grand Slams together. In December 2025 Alcaraz ended that seven-year partnership by social media post, thanking Ferrero for turning childhood dreams into reality. It was a messy-looking breakup on paper, but his own message was gracious.
The on-court stoushes are mostly tempers. At the Doha quarterfinal in February 2026 he copped a time warning, argued with the chair umpire, and called the ATP rules “rubbish”. Hot-headed, sure, but it was a rules gripe, not a dig at a person, and no apology was reported.
On the harm test, we found no anti-LGBTQ+, anti-woman, anti-migrant or anti-science words or campaigns from him. The record is thin rather than spotless: he has said little on those topics, and in 2024 he said record prize money motivated him to play the Six Kings Slam exhibition in Saudi Arabia. Some will see that as a mark against him; it is a contested choice, not a harm campaign.
He also showed some backbone on tour politics. When the Djokovic-backed players' association filed its lawsuit in 2025, he said plainly he did not support it. That's an opinion on how tennis is run and fair either way, and it's the sort of independence worth noting.
The good stuff is real. In April 2024 he launched the Carlos Alcaraz Garfia Foundation in El Palmar to help children in need, and he is its president. ATP reported its school sport programs had already reached more than 120 kids. It is still a young foundation, so we can't yet say how big its impact is.