Defeating Daniil Medvedev in the final on Sunday capped a “perfect campaign,” according to new world No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz, who also won the Indian Wells title for the first time.
Alcaraz cruised 6-3 6-2 to win in 72 minutes in spite of Medvedev entering Sunday’s championship match on a 19-match winning streak.
Alcaraz’s victory in Indian Wells marked his third ATP Masters 1000 victory in three finals, during which time he failed to lose a set.
Without dropping a set during the Indian Wells Open, the 19-year-old Spaniard said it was a “perfect” week for him.
“It feels amazing to lift the trophy here [and] to recover the number one,” Alcaraz told reporters, having reclaimed the top rank from Novak Djokovic due to his victory.
“It has been the perfect tournament. It was a goal for me, this tournament that I really wanted to win. For me, it’s amazing.”
The lopsided nature of Alcaraz’s victory over Medvedev in the final caught many by surprise, hitting 19-4 winners against the in-form fifth seed.
“Honestly I didn’t expect that,” Alcaraz said. “I expected a tough match but I played perfect. I said before against Daniil you have to play your best and tactically at your best level as well. I did perfect today. That’s why it looks easy but it wasn’t.”
👍🏆👍@carlosalcaraz | #TennisParadise pic.twitter.com/DDaaOLzf88
— ATP Tour (@atptour) March 20, 2023
Alcaraz added he was delighted to reclaim the number one rank which he had lost after Djokovic won the 2023 Australian Open, which he missed due to injury.
Djokovic was unable to participate at Indian Wells due to being unvaccinated for COVID-19, with the pair actually not facing off at any events this year.
Alcaraz returned from abdominal and hamstring injuries last month at the Argentina Open and Rio Open before competing at Indian Wells, while Djokovic was in action at the Dubai Tennis Championships. The next opportunity for the pair to face off as at April’s Monte Carlo Masters.
“Novak is one of the best players in the world,” Alcaraz said. “That’s obvious. I always say, if you want to be the best, you have to beat the best. I really wanted to play against Novak again. We miss him on tour and hopefully to have him back very, very soon.”
Alcaraz added: “It feels great to be back on the No1. Of course, every player on the ATP wants to be the number one. For me, it’s a dream come true again. Obviously being in front of such great players like Novak, the top player, it’s an amazing feeling.”
Despite Djokovic being unable to compete at Indian Wells, Medvedev said he felt Alcaraz’s return to the top rank was a true No1.
“One hundred per cent,” Medvedev said. “It’s unfortunate Novak can’t play all the tournaments. If you get injured, Rafa is injured for some time, we cannot say if Rafa isn’t injured he would be number one, because we cannot know. Same about Novak.
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— ATP Tour (@atptour) March 20, 2023
🫴🫴🫴@carlosalcaraz joins his countryman Rafael Nadal as the only players to win at least three ATP Masters 1000 titles as teenagers 💫@BNPPARIBASOPEN | #TennisParadise pic.twitter.com/1UB0HU75Gl
“For sure if he was able to play last year and this year all the tournaments there is a possibility that the rankings would be different but Carlos is deservedly No1, he won more points than everybody else in the last 52 weeks and he was also year-end No1 last year.”