NEW YORK – The fuel behind Carlos Alcaraz‘s excellent tennis is his own happiness, and one of the things that makes him happy is golf.
It is not wrong to conclude that during the demands of a Grand Slam, hitting a small white ball on a course surrounded by nature and accompanied by his friends is an escape that helped the Spaniard win the 2025 US Open.
Sergio García, one of his golf mentors, believes so: ‘Probably playing golf with Juan Carlos (Ferrero), David Puig (Spanish golfer) and me helped him a little bit this week too.’
“Carlos needs to be happy, relaxed, energised, to feel free. Golf helps him achieve that, it helps him disconnect. It’s like tennis helps me disconnect from golf,” the 2017 Augusta Masters champion told CLAY.
García was close to Alcaraz from the middle of the tournament, present in the stands for his last matches in New York. They played golf together after the quarter-finals on one of the courses near the city.
The iconic celebration of swinging his racket like a golf club began as a dedication to Rory McIlroy (present in the first round of the tournament) and ended up being a tribute to García.
The former world number two analysed Alcaraz’s future, both in tennis and golf.
‘He has good potential in golf. He’s only been playing for a few years, but he’s good at it, he’s fast, he really enjoys it, which is important. He can achieve a fairly low handicap and enjoy himself a lot,’ he said.
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“In tennis, everyone can see his quality. How far will he go? It will depend a lot on his desire, how fresh he stays and whether he avoids injuries. The level he plays at every year is incredible and very nice to see,‘ the golfer explained to CLAY at Flushing Meadows after Alcaraz’s victory over Jannik Sinner in the final in Queens.
García, an 11-time PGA Tour champion, admitted his love for the sport he plays as an amateur. ’I’ve always loved tennis and I enjoy it very much,” he acknowledged.
The match on a rectangular court between García and Alcaraz is still pending: “I have played tennis several times with Juan Carlos. I haven’t been able to play with Carlos yet. Once we were going to play and he twisted his ankle, so we couldn’t.”
