Ever since Carlos Alcaraz won the French Open 2024, he became the youngest tennis player in history to complete the ‘Surface Slam’ i.e. win every Grand Slam on each of the grass, hard, and clay courts. However, this feat requires the addition of a tiny detail, i.e. Alcaraz is the youngest ‘male’ player to achieve this feat. Serena Williams takes the all-time spot.
Carlos Alcaraz’s feat of winning the US Open 2022, Wimbledon 2023, and the French Open 2024, is no doubt remarkable. But he just turned 21 before completing this record. Serena Williams was yet to turn 21 when she achieved the same feat.
Born in 1981, an 18-year-old Serena Williams won her first Grand Slam at the 1999 US Open. It took her 3 more years to win the French Open and the Wimbledon. She was 20 years and 10 months old when she completed the ‘Surface Slam’.
When the ITF shared the record by Alcaraz on X, they missed out on adding the ‘male’ player. X user Ty Talks rectified the post.
For men right?
Cause didn’t Serena go
1999 US Open
2002 French
2002 Wimbledon https://t.co/C1UFTKvfbR— Ty Talks (@WhenTyTalks) June 9, 2024
Alcaraz is yet to win the Australian Open to complete his ‘Career Slam’. Co-incidentally, it was the same for Williams in 2002.
Despite Ty Talks’ rectification, several fans don’t agree Serena Williams deserves the adulation for completing the ‘Surface Slam’ at a young age. That is because she lost one Grand Slam final in between those 3 wins, which was the 2001 US Open to her sister Venus Williams. However, that doesn’t make much sense, since Serena Williams completed the ‘Surface Slam’ before turning 21, despite that loss.
The stat did ignite a strong debate amongst fans and both Alcaraz and Serena got good support.
Serena lost the 2001 USO. Though, technically she should been there because her first two slam finals were on the same surface. I think they’re excluding Serena due to losing her second slam final.
— Jamerson. (@HeIsJamerson) June 9, 2024
It didn’t say win their first 3 finals, it said win their first 3 slams on the 3 different surfaces
— Ty Talks (@WhenTyTalks) June 9, 2024
We will never let them erase Serena stats or women’s tennis stats!
— Ajayi Monell (@inspirEDucator) June 9, 2024
Prob due to that fact he’s undefeated in his first 3 whereas Serena lost to Venus in Flushing
— B Quacky (@BQuacky) June 10, 2024
While it is hard to compare men’s and women’s tennis, the fact remains that Carlos Alcaraz at least matched Serena Williams for such an honor. Tennis hasn’t seen an exciting, young talent like Alcaraz in many years, with Serena being the last such player in the sport.
Like Serena did for women’s tennis, Alcaraz could become a trailblazer in the men’s game since an early age by changing the sport forever with his unique personality, style of play and popularity.
Can Carlos Alcaraz Follow the Footsteps of Serena Williams?
Completing the ‘Surface Slam’ might look like a normal record due to the likes of Serena Williams, Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic achieving the same before Carlos Alcaraz did. However, it is far from easy since becoming versatile is hard and winning multiple Grand Slams is harder.
With those early wins across surfaces and tournaments, Serena Williams soon became a trailblazer for women. Not just in tennis, but she also inspired other women like Michelle Obama, Gigi Hadid, Zendaya etc. Williams ended up with 23 Grand Slam titles and it is a record which has not been broken till date.
Similarly, Carlos Alcaraz has a great opportunity in front of him to inspire a whole new generation of male tennis players. While he has already taken forth Rafael Nadal’s legacy from Spain, his responsibilities will only increase from here on.
Alcaraz also touched 5 million Instagram followers recently, and this made him the 6th most popular tennis player on the platform. This might be the beginning of the rise of a great player who is equally marketable as he has the ability to transcend his sport and boundaries.
