MADRID – Leave the boy alone, say those close to the world No. 1. He is 14 years old, they add. Patience and calm are needed, they insist. These are three messages with a single purpose: to protect Jaime Alcaraz from what is coming his way.
Because yes, Jaime wants to be a tennis player and he plays quite well for his age. You only need to watch some of the videos that go viral every few weeks: he is a carbon copy of his brother Carlos. That comes with many advantages, but also many dangers.
The latest video to flood social media is one to store in the memory box. This Sunday, with match point in his favour, in the final of the under-15 event at the Murcia Challenger, at home and in front of his people, the youngest of the four Alcaraz brothers produced three remarkable recoveries before sealing the title with a shot struck with his back to the net.
A local journalist recorded it and uploaded it to social media. Thousands of views were guaranteed. And practically all major Spanish media outlets have already run a story about the point and the title. “Jaime Alcaraz follows in his brother’s footsteps,” reads Marca. “Jaime is crowned champion with a viral point,” highlights Diario AS.
OJO !!!
Con este puntazo ha ganado Jaime #Alcaraz a Rodrigo Burgos ,ambos jugadores del @clubcampomurcia en la final del I torneo sub 15 Costa Calida .
INCREÍBLE . pic.twitter.com/XKefHjP3Zu
— Antonio Hernández ©️ (@murcianico79) March 22, 2026
Watching the images, it is impossible not to imagine. What if this boy reaches the elite of tennis? What if he ends up among the best? What if he ends up battling his brother for the biggest titles? It is tremendously difficult, but not impossible, of course. However, the most likely scenario is that none of that will happen.
The vast majority of players who stand out at 14 or 15 fade away during the harsh transition from junior to professional tennis. At that age, tennis is a shredder of illusions. Jaime Alcaraz, however, has one advantage none of the other 14-year-old players have: he has the example at home. His brother Carlos has already gone through this stage and knows what to do — and what not to do — to navigate the obstacles ahead.
“My brother Carlos doesn’t give me many pieces of advice, but when he does, they are important,” Jaime Alcaraz said a few months ago during a junior Davis Cup event. “He tells me what I do off the court matters. If you’re at a tournament, for example, he says I can’t play football because you can get hurt, get injured and miss the event,” explained the youngest brother of Álvaro, Carlos and Sergio, the other sons of Carlos Alcaraz and Virginia Garfia.
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In that house in El Palmar, a small area of Murcia a few kilometres from the Mediterranean Sea, tennis has always been in the air. Carlos Sr was a tennis player who competed nationally before opening an academy just steps from his home. Now he travels the world accompanying his son Carlos and also Álvaro, the eldest brother, who has a good feel for the racket and is part of the world No. 1’s coaching team. Sergio, the third brother, is in the youth academy of the region’s top football club, Real Murcia. And then there is Jaime, the youngest of the family, the protagonist of this story.
“He plays well, I won’t lie. He is reaching a great level, but there are many people, many videos, many social media accounts saying he will be like his brother. And I don’t like that,” Carlos Alcaraz said in October 2024, when videos of his brother began circulating online. “I just want people, social media, to leave him alone. I’m a bit worried, worried that people will go to watch him in tournaments just because he is my brother and will put pressure on him.”
The Alcaraz Brothers….
Alvaro Alcaraz – Coach of World No.1
Carlos Alcaraz – World No.1 and 7 Slams
Sergio Alcaraz – Footballer (Murcia youth)
Jaime Alcaraz – U15 Murcia ChampionInsane 🤯 pic.twitter.com/qptAq3LBp8
— SK (@Djoko_UTD) March 22, 2026
“Being Alcaraz’s brother brings some pressure, but I use it to my advantage and that helps me a lot,” Jaime himself said a couple of months ago about the heavy burden he will have to carry. That tag of “the brother of” will follow him for the rest of his life. He will never just be Jaime Alcaraz, but ‘Jaime, Carlos Alcaraz’s little brother’.
That surname carries enormous pressure: not only because he will always have more eyes on him than others in every tournament he plays, but also because of the expectations many will wrongly place on him. He will be asked to resemble his brother, to follow his timeline. And that is a huge danger.
Comparing a boy to a tennis player who has shattered every record of precocity is a misleading exercise that will not help him at all. His task, and that of his entourage, will be to abstract themselves from all that noise: to live his life, go through each stage at his own pace and enjoy the journey, whatever the destination.
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