What Carlos Alcaraz has achieved in 2026 that no other ATP star has managed
Carlos Alcaraz won his first Masters title of the 2026 season by defeating Ben Shelton in the Paris Masters final.
Alcaraz has been surprisingly poor at ATP 1000 level this year, with two early exits and no titles from his previous four appearances across 2026.
That changed at the Paris Masters, though, as the Spaniard beat the likes of Taylor Fritz, Casper Ruud, and Ben Shelton to win his maiden Paris Masters title.
As a result, Alcaraz has now achieved something that no other ATP Tour player has managed across the season.
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Alcaraz is now the only player to win a title at 500, 1000, and Grand Slam level in 2026, which is some achievement from the Spaniard.
He won three 500 titles at the Vienna Open, the Japan Open, and the Qatar Open, while his sole Masters title of course came at the indoor event in Paris.
Alcaraz also started the year by winning the Australian Open, which also helped him become the youngest male player to earn the Career Grand Slam.
Other players have come close, but it is just Alcaraz who has won all three tiers.
Jannik Sinner won a Grand Slam, at Wimbledon, as well as five Masters titles at Indian Wells, the Miami Open, the Monte Carlo Masters, the Madrid Open, and the Italian Open.
The Italian only played one ATP 500 tournament in 2026, at the Qatar Open, where he was knocked out of the quarterfinals of the competition by Jakub Mensik.
Ben Shelton, meanwhile, reached the final of every level, but he only managed to win a Masters title (at the Canadian Open) and two ATP 500 titles at the Dallas Open and the Munich Open.
Alexander Zverev has only won Grand Slam titles this year, at Roland Garros and the US Open, so he is two titles away from achieving the clean sweep.
It’s a particularly impressive achievement from Alcaraz considering just how much tennis he has missed. His four and a half months out ensured he missed the Madrid Open, the Italian Open, Roland Garros, Queen’s, Wimbledon, the Canadian Open, and the Cincinnati Open.
That means he’s been able to win all three of the top tier titles playing significantly less than his rivals, outside of Sinner who has also struggled with injuries and missed the entirety of the second half of the season.
It’s another notch in the belt of Alcaraz and he now has the chance to achieve another first-time feat when he arrives at the ATP Finals in Turin.
Alcaraz is yet to win the year-end tournament, but he will likely not get a better chance to do so with Sinner already confirmed to miss the Turin event.
