Spanish teenager Carlos Alcaraz, who won the US Open last week, has become the youngest male player to be ranked world number 1. There’s been plenty of buzz over the 19-year-old for some time now, and while many felt he would win a Grand Slam sooner or later, few expected him to claim both a Grand Slam title and the number 1 ranking this year itself.

But former world number one Juan Carlos Ferrero, who has been coaching Alcaraz since he was 15, has said that his rapid rise may be a surprise to everyone else but not to him, because “Since the moment that I started with him, I saw some things that were different than the other guys at his age. I am still seeing it on the court.” So what are these things that set Alcaraz apart? With Roger Federer announcing his retirement, are we at a moment that marks the end of the Big Three era and the start of the ‘Alcaraz era’?

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