Knew Carlos Alcaraz that this Indian Wells was special. He was close to the final last year, but a certain Rafael Nadal left him at the gates. But in this course, more grown and with the absence of the Spaniard, he has taken the definitive step. “It is the objective”, he repeated in the previous days. In this 2023, he not only stepped on the last match of the tournament, but also gave a lesson in containment, effectiveness and perfect execution with which he swept Daniil Medvedev off the court.
The Russian came from 19 games without defeat, three titles, the fittest tennis player, but the wind came to Indian Wells on the last day and a gale called Alcaraz. The Murcian not only takes the title, the third Masters 1,000 of his career (after Miami and Madrid), eighth trophy in total, and a check for 1,600,000 euros, but also climbs one more week to number 1 of the ATP. As soon as Miami starts next week, the 1,000 points from last year will be subtracted.
He is the fifth Spanish tennis player to kiss the trophy at Indian Wells after Pepe Herguedas, Álex Corretja, Rafa Nadal and Paula Badosa. He does it without having turned 21 years old.
This is how the ATP ranking remains after his victory over Medvedev.
1. Carlos Alcaraz, 7,420 points
2. Novak Djokovic, 7.160
3. Stefanos Tsitsipas, 5,770
4. Casper Ruud, 5.560
5. Daniil Medvedev, 4.330
6. Felix Auger-Aliassime, 3.415
7. Andrey Rublev, 3.390
8. Holger Rune, 3.325
9. Hubert Hurkacz, 3.065
10. Taylor Fritz, 2.975