anon this looks So interesting but my auto translate is so fawking bad 💔💔💔💔 i hate FOMO #MyFOMO i am once again relying on the charity of my spanish speaking oomfs to translate 🙏🙏🙏🙏
hi one of ur anons has a working knowledge of golf!! scratch golfers (the level required for a professional) have a handicap of 0 which means if a course is par 70 they will hit roughly around that par 70. carlos has a handicap of 11.2 - for an amateur & someone who plays only casually this is actually pretty good! his drive swing is good too, pretty right hand heavy but expected since he’s a tennis player lol
the videos posted of jannik’s golf swing when he went out with his team was… questionable! he might be a better putter idk but he’s got to get longer clubs 😭😭
tldr id take carlos any day shskdjsjsjdnd mans plays with sergio garcia
HI ANON! thank you for letting me know, this is so awesome. i am fascinated by golf but i've never thought of myself as someone who has the patience, so this is very cool to know!!!
It’s a sunny Tuesday on the spring of 2019. First round of an emerging Challenger tournament in the small city of Villena, Alicante. Two wild cards. Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz meet for the first time.
To commemorate it, I compiled the little pieces of information surrounding that match that I could find: what the tennis press said about their careers at the time, what people back then thought of that encounter, what both Carlos and Jannik commented about it afterward, and what they’ve shared about it as the years passed. At the end there will be a link to the full match, and the highlights.
Let's travel back in time together, to 2,557 days ago…
Where are we?
Juan Carlos Ferrero’s Equelite Academy is currently the heart of tennis in Spain. After hosting a national tournament and an ITF Grade 1 event, Villena is gearing up for its biggest week with the arrival of the Challenger, which will once again bring together a long list of the top players in Spanish tennis.
“On paper, there aren’t many changes, to be honest”, says Ferrero. “Last year went well for us, and you always try to improve (...). Of course, we have a long list of Spanish players—some young ones like Carlos Alcaraz, Taberner, Pedro, Davidovich… players who are in great form and who may well be the future of Spanish tennis. I can’t forget an Italian player named Jannik Sinner, who’s just won three consecutive titles. It will be a very competitive draw; it’s hard to say who the favorite might be.”
But if there’s one change from last year, it’s that Juan Carlos does have a personal favorite to win the title. His protégé, Carlos Alcaraz, will compete in the main draw at age 15 thanks to a wild card. “It’s not quite his level yet, but it will be a great learning experience for him. He’ll play here this week, at the Murcia Challenger next week, and then the Conde de Godó Qualy — three weeks for him to gain experience playing against much stronger and more experienced players, but they’ll be good for him to get a sense of what he might face in a few years. For now, this past week has already brought great joy with his junior tournament win — and since it was at home, it’s double the joy,” celebrates the former world No. 1.
Who would have thought a few years ago, when we barely had two Challenger tournaments in our country, that we’d now be short on time to attend them all. “We needed this. Spain is one of the countries with the greatest global impact in terms of producing players, so the more tournaments we have in this category, the better.”
— Punto De Break. April 2, 2019
The Match — Who are these young promises?
Alcaraz Garfia Holds Off Sinner In Villena To Seal First ATP Challenger Match Win.
The 15-year-old Spaniard advances to the second round of the Ferrero Challenger Open.
Carlos Alcaraz Garfia has become the first player born in 2003 to win a match on the ATP Challenger Tour. The 15-year-old Spaniard fought past fellow teenager Jannik Sinner of Italy 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 on Tuesday afternoon to reach the second round of the €46,600 Ferrero Challenger Open in Villena.
Alcaraz Garfia broke Sinner’s serve seven times to seal victory in one hour and 50 minutes. His win came only one day after clinching the singles trophy at the Junior’s G1 tournament held at the JC Ferrero Equelite Sport Academy last week.
Sinner’s 16 match unbeaten run, which includes two titles wins at the ATP Challenger in Bergamo and the ITF World Tennis Tour M25 event in Trento, has come to an end. The 17-year-old from South Tyrol will next play on home soil at the ATP Challenger in Barletta.
— Tennis TourTalk. April 2, 2019
Carlos and Jannik — Their perspective at the time...
CARLOS:
Seen as a future tennis star but still a long way from that level, as he continues to develop as a player, Alcaraz gave his first comments to the tournament media.
After winning in three sets, Alcaraz acknowledged that he came into the tournament with enough confidence to compete for the title. “I stepped onto the court knowing I could win; if I played at my best, I could hold my own against a young player who’s been doing very well. And the truth is, I felt great — I’d already had good results here in the juniors, and I’m playing as if I were at home, which is always a plus. I played well, with courage and a lot of confidence heading into the next match.”
— Punto De Break. April 2, 2019
In Villena, we saw you win your first Challenger match. Was that your goal?
“I went onto the court thinking it was a gift, that I had to enjoy playing at my level and putting on a perfect attitude. Then I felt a little nervous, but I did what I had to do from start to finish and luckily I was able to enjoy it.”
— Punto De Break. April 28, 2019
JANNIK:
“For me, a loss that annoyed me a lot was after I won three tournaments, when I went to, I think Marbella? [actually Alicante] and there I played the first round against Alcaraz, a guy born in 2003 who's really amazing in my opinion. I'd arrived there the evening before and hadn't trained because I'd just won the tournament before, and so I played that match and I was 3-0 up in the third set and I lost it 6-3.
And so that loss really taught me a lot from every point of view: how to manage a match, and by the way I was playing well in that match. And also, the next tournament I played in Italy, in Barletta, against Moroni and I was down 6-0 1-0 so I'd lost 13 games in a row [6 from Alcaraz + 7 from Moroni] and then, well, then I managed to come back and win that match — but that's not what's important — but yeah those matches taught me a whole lot.”
— Sky Sport Italia. March 30, 2020 (x)
...and years later, looking back down memory lane
CARLOS:
Your first match against Jannik Sinner, if you remember. (Reporter shows him a video)
“I remember which one, the—in Villena, yeah” (Smiling. He’s smiling for most of this video)
What do you remember about that match?
“First of all, at the beginning of the match, I do remember when I saw I had to play Jannik — he was coming up. I think he won like three or four futures in a row. And I remember, Okay, this is going to be tough. Obviously, I didn't know anything about him. I think he didn't know anything about me, or know that much. But I remember it was a lot of up-downs in the match. I win the first set like, playing really good tennis, then the second set it was break up or something and then he came back and took the second set and win the second set really easily, and the third set was like… always up and downs in the match. But it was on clay, it was my favourite at that time. I was more used to playing on clay. which was great for me for the first match, for the first meeting. We play almost the same style, but obviously ten steps forward right now. But I think we trust in our tennis all the time and we've been developing our style through the years.”
— Tennis Channel. January 18, 2026
JANNIK:
Talent alone is never enough in tennis, with many of the best prodigies burning out young, but Sinner suspected Alcaraz may become his greatest rival when the pair first met at the Spaniard’s academy in April 2019. “He was already playing better tennis than me. I still remember the match,” Sinner says. “He was two years younger than me, which is a huge difference, and I thought for sure he is something special. You could see it and feel it.”
— The Times. July 1, 2024
“You have certain players where you feel like they have something special. Carlos already had this when he was young. When we played in the Challengers. You see straight away, you know, the sound of the ball, the way he moves and everything. So I was like you arrive for sure, I don’t know about myself, you know, if I’m going to be there! (smiling). Now we share the last six Grand Slam together which is very nice to see.”
— Wimbledon. July 1, 2025
And the one time they talked about it together:
Jannik: I saw the draw coming out and I said, “Ooh, Carlos Alcaraz.” I said I have no idea who he is. I saw the age and I said wow, you know, he's playing a Challenger, it's amazing and then I was— straight away, I was impressed.
Carlos: The match was a roller coaster for us, you know (Jannik agrees, they're both smiling), 6-1, you know, 2-6, 3-0 and you know, but it was a great time, you know.
Jannik: After the match we went to the same locker room, and I was like, “When did you start to play tennis?”* And then we started to talk a little bit, you know, because I wanted to get to know him because he was just an amazing talent already back in the days and You could see straight away that he is a very, very special player.
Carlos: I didn't think at that time that we were going to share a lot of tournaments or to become the players that we are right now because it was impossible at that time.
Jannik: No, it's impossible. When you are this young, you don't even think that far.
Carlos: Everything was too far away.
Jannik: Yes, it was just all dreams.
*That line is quoted in the article they wrote about this interview, but doesn't appear in the video. Oh how I wish we had the full, uncut footage </3
— CNN Sports. November 12, 2024
The Public Perception
When that match happened, the average tennis viewer wouldn't know much about Carlos and Jannik just yet (although promising young players naturally get more coverage and attention in their home countries). Avid tennis fans following up-and-coming talent had their eyes on several players, including both Jannik and Carlos.
I went on a scavenger hunt, trying to find old comments made about them back then (dates included in each tweet/comment; they're in chronological order)
These two came later but still preceded what would be the next Alcaraz-Sinner match (Paris 2021)
And this article from 2025:
I watched the Alcaraz-Sinner match in 2019.
“Those most knowledgeable about tennis knew that two very good players could emerge from that match [Villena 2019], though no one could have imagined what we saw in the final [Roland Garros 2025],” says Antonio Martínez Cascales, 64, president of the Ferrero Academy and former coach of Juan Carlos Ferrero himself. “I was amazed during the match; it was exceptional. Without a doubt, it was one of the two or three most beautiful matches I’ve ever seen in my entire life. With every point, I was reminded of that match we watched at home in 2019.”
“Even back then, it was clear that both of them were going to be great professional players, but none of us who were there could have imagined that they would become the two best in the world just a few years later,” admits Iñaki Etxagia.
— AS. June 10, 2025
✨Watch the match here: link
✨Highlights: link
And to end this post, here's a video I found of their first handshake at the net — from another angle 💫
**Links of those two quotes x, x. And the Villena gif x
throwback to rome last year when carlos was seen dancing along to a song during a match. so cute. but I was thinking, maybe some people don't know what song it is
"si antes te hubiera conocido" by karol g, it was a huuge hit. and. well let me show you the lyrics in english 😭
him and his love songs..... (like, remember when he was asked "what's your guilty pleasure song?" and he laughed and was like "hmm I'm very romantic eh..." while looking up a song on his spotify? x)
carlos' prayer cards: catholicism, tradition, murcian saints, and italian mystics
"my grandmother gave it to me — [she said] you have you keep it, you have to keep it"
that's what carlos said in a video where he was showing what he keeps in his tennis bag. the moment I saw those little rectangular images I immediately thought: oh, those are estampas — holy cards or prayer cards, in english
for those who aren't familiar with them: they're very common in catholicism. the images depict different biblical figures (jesus, mary, etc) as well as saints (catholics love saints). on the back, they usually have a prayer specific to that figure. in the case of saints, people ask for their intercession through prayer — so it's like asking them to pray to god for you. some people carry the same one or two cards with them everywhere, keeping them in their wallet for example. like just the presence of the card is enough
so naturally, I stop the video and try to see who's depicted in the images.... which is impossible since they're quite blurry and there are thousands of saints— hold on is that my girl la virgen de la fuensanta ??
patron saint of murcia. super loved here. she's usually asked for health, protection for homes, good harvests for farmers, guidance in important decisions, unity and prosperity
his home in el palmar is actually close to the sanctuary on top of the hill where her statue is kept. and every year in her romería (iberian and latin american catholic thing — a small pilgrimage in honor of a saint, a festivity with food and music and good vibes) she's carried from the hill down to the cathedral of murcia city. when the festivities end she's carried back to her sanctuary
okay so very #murciancore of him to carry an estampa of la fuensanta. a very classic murcian grandma thing. but what about the other card? I was completely lost. she looked like a woman — dark clothes, and no nun's habit or veil...? I literally looked up "saint card woman no veil" on google and I somehow got the answer right away lmao
gemma galgani. an italian saint. yes, italian. a young woman, a mystic who got canonized as a saint by the catholic church after her death
such an unexpected choice of holy card to carry around. I hadn't heard of her before either. her intercessions are related to those who struggle with "illnesses and temptations, those who want to offer everything for god and for the salvation of souls". the prayers I saw online written in the back of her holy cards are usually asking for blessings and grace. and I also saw this and I had to add it. for the themes of it all
from an interview carlos did with the sunday times in 2024:
Are you an emotional person? “I am really emotional. I mean, it doesn’t look like that, but I am someone who can be sad. If something touches my family I feel it. I cried at Roland Garros, but not for winning, but watching my parents crying. I cried because I saw them crying. I cry watching movies too.”
As we reach the end of our time together, I ask what matters most to him in life. He ponders the question for a good few moments. “I love tennis but I love even more being the older brother of my little ones,” he says. “Being the role model for them, not as a tennis player but a person. That is the most important thing — to help them learn about the things that matter in life.”
