Carlos Alcaraz thought the biggest challenge he would face in the early stages of this year’s US Open was the 145mph serves of his 6ft 11in first round opponent, Reilly Opelka. Instead it turned out to be his own brother.
Alcaraz wanted a haircut before the tournament and, in the absence of his usual barber, Victor Martínez, asked one of his brothers to give him a trim. It did not go well.
“I felt like my hair was really long already, and before the tournament I just really wanted to get a haircut,” the world No 2 told reporters after dismissing Opelka 6-4, 7-5 6-4 on Monday night. “Suddenly just my brother just – he misunderstood with the machine. He just cut it. Then, the only way to fix it was just to shave it off. To be honest, it’s not that bad, I guess.”
Alcaraz has flown Martínez to other tournaments, such as this year’s French Open, when he needs a haircut but felt the flight from Spain to New York was too far. So far, the verdict on his brother’s barber skills are mixed.
“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. I can’t do anything else right now, so I’m just laughing about everything they are saying about my haircut.”
One person who is not a fan is Frances Tiafoe. The pair could meet in the semi-finals after they won their first-round matches. Tiafoe described Alcaraz’s new cut as “horrendous”.
“Frances is lying. Frances is lying,” laughed Alcaraz. “No, come on? He showed up here saying that it is terrible? I know he’s lying. I know he likes the haircut. He likes it. He told me.”
Alcaraz, whose five grand slam titles include the 2022 US Open, said the haircut would fix itself in a few days anyway because his hair grows so fast.
“Every time that I get a haircut, in two or three days it’s gone,” he said. “In three days you’re going to see another hair[style].”
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