“Was that because of Carlos Alcaraz’s haircut”- Jennifer Capriati raises intriguing question about Spaniard’s ‘faster’ display after US Open win

Carlos Alcaraz was praised by the former WTA World No. 1 player, Jennifer Capriati, after the Spaniard had clinched his sixth Major title, with the former American player raising an intriguing question about Alcaraz’s title run in New York.

Carlos Alcaraz had been in tremendous form at this year’s US Open, as the Spaniard seemed to have worked out his issues with consistency and vulnerabilities while serving—the newly-crowned World No.1 made giant strides on both accounts in New York this year, winning over 80 percent of his first serve points throughout the tournament and not losing a single set before the final.

The final was determined by these two factors as well, as Alcaraz made a fast start, breaking Sinner in the very first game of the match, and remained solid behind his service games. He lost his serve only once and broke his opponent’s serve five times in the course of the match.

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Seeing Alcaraz's performance, former World No.1 Jennifer Capriati was awestruck as she claimed that this was the most dominant Slam run in Carlos Alcaraz's career. In a tweet she made, the American wondered if the Spaniard had gotten faster, and even jokingly remarked on whether the new hairstyle was the reason behind the success.

Jennifer Capriati

@JenCapriati

That was impressive. Alcaraz with his own brand of tennis right there. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him play that well. Did he get faster or was that because of the haircut that made him look faster

Alcaraz finishes the Grand Slam season with a 24-2 win-loss record, with both his losses coming at the hands of his two closest rivals, Novak Djokovic and Jannik Sinner.

Carlos Alcaraz has got the better of Jannik Sinner in recent times

While for the rest of the Tour, the task seems impossible, Carlos Alcaraz seems to have cracked the code of taking down Jannik Sinner. Since the Italian had his breakout year in 2024, Alcaraz has been the only one who has a positive head-to-head record against the Italian.

Since the start of last year, Sinner has had a 109-4 win-loss record against all other players on Tour, whereas he has lost seven of his eight matches against Alcaraz, with the Spaniard winning three of their four meetings at the Majors. Even on hard courts, which are considered the Italian's strength, Alcaraz has won all four matches on the surface against his closest rival.

The trend is similar this year, as four out of Sinner's five losses have come at the hands of Alcaraz, with the Italian's one notable win over the Spaniard in the last two years coming at the Wimbledon final this year.

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SAGNIK DATTA

Sagnik, a Mass Communication and Journalism graduate, is a tennis journalist at Sportskeeda. Before finding his spot in the tennis writing team, he worked as a junior content specialist for academic content writing firms for a couple of years.

Before putting out any information in the public domain, Sagnik makes sure that every element of his content is well-researched and backed with credible data so that there is no misinterpretation of facts or quotes and ethical standards are maintained. To do so, Sagnik follows reputed websites like the Tennis Channel and Tennis TV, and renowned journalists on social media.

He is a fan of former player Roger Federer, and just like his favorite player, Sagnik likes to bring perfection to his write-ups by providing concise and on-point content. Speaking of the ‘GOAT’ debate, Sagnik believes that it is a bit unfair to compare the legends of the game from different eras who have played on different terms. But if he were to pick one, he’d go for Novak Djokovic based on his tally of 24 Grand Slam titles.

When not writing about tennis and technically analyzing the sport, which he believes are his 'forte', Sagnik indulges in reading books.

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