He’s only played one match at this year’s US Open, but Carlos Alcaraz has already created a buzz.
The Spanish second seed arrived on court for his first-round match against American Reilly Opelka sporting a new – and pretty severe – haircut.
Clearly, the freshly-shorn Alcaraz hadn’t been drawing any Samson-like strength from his hair because he overcame Opelka in straight sets – 6-4, 7-5, 6-4 – to reach the second round.
“I felt like my hair was really long already, and before the tournament, I just really wanted to get a haircut,” he told reporters. “Suddenly, my brother just – he misunderstood with the machine. He just cut it. Then the only way to fix it is just shave it off.”
New York, Alcaraz added, was too far for his usual barber, Víctor Martínez, to travel, and he joked that the unexpected buzzcut made him feel faster and more aerodynamic on the court.
“Some people like it. Some people don’t like it,” he said. “To be honest, I’m just laughing about the reaction of the people. It is what it is. So I can’t do anything else right now, so I’m just laughing about everything that they are talking about my haircut.”
Among those to take against the new look were American Frances Tiafoe.
“From a guy who gets haircuts week in, week out, and prides myself on good haircuts, it’s horrendous,” Tiafoe said after his first-round win against Yoshihito Nishioka.
On social media, video has circulated of Tiafoe getting his first glimpse of Alcaraz’s buzzcut and reacting with a look of wide-eyed shock.
“It’s definitely terrible,” the 17th seed said. “He’s my guy though. It’s funny. I looked at him and I was like, ‘I guess you’re aerodynamic’ … I don’t know who told him to do that, but it’s terrible.”
However, golfer Rory McIlroy, who met Alcaraz earlier in the day at a practice session and asked about the hair, was a fan.
“I like it,” he said. “It’s good. It’s a good look.”
And what did Alcaraz’s barber, Martínez, make of it? “You can do whatever you want, you have permission,” was his response on Instagram.
On the court, Alcaraz seemed unfazed by the added attention from his haircut. He needed just over two hours to see off the towering, big-serving Opelka in Arthur Ashe Stadium and kick off his pursuit of a sixth grand slam title and second at the US Open.
He now faces Italian Mattia Bellucci in the second round on Thursday.
“Today was really difficult to get the good rhythm,” said Alcaraz. “Opelka is such a tough opponent (with a) big serve. He doesn’t let you go on rallies. It was difficult for me to get the good rhythm and the good feeling from the baseline.
“I just tried to return well, playing as long a point as I can and trying to get the good rhythm and the good feeling. So it was a difficult first round, but overall I’m just really happy with the way that I managed everything that I played today.”
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