Virginia Garfia, mother of Carlos Alcaraz: “At two years old, he still didn’t speak, but he already showed incredible skill with the ball. In kindergarten, the teachers used to tell us how impressed they were with his coordination, an innate quality that is difficult to explain.”

Seven Grand Slam titles, nine Masters 1000, an Olympic silver medal, being the youngest world number 1 in history and also the youngest to win the four majors. Definitely, Carlos Alcaraz is, at 23 years old, on his way to becoming one of the best tennis players in historythanks to an enormous talent that he already showed from a very young age.

“At two years old, he still didn’t speak, but he already showed incredible skill with the ball. In kindergarten, the teachers used to tell us how impressed they were with his coordination, an innate quality that is difficult to explain,” said his mother, Virginia Garfia, in an interview with the newspaper L’Equipe.

“At the age of 5, he saw his older brother participate in his first competitions and, from then on, he kept saying: ‘I want to play in a tournament too, come on!’ I told him over and over again that he was too small and that he wasn’t even federated. ‘Well, get my license, come on!’“continued Virginia Garfia, who also explained some of the deals that the current world number 3 made as a child.

“We had to repaint the living room wall several times. And how many lamps did he break… We were a little upset, but not too much. We also listened to him in his bedroom giving imaginary interviews after the games. Vivacious? Yes, it was, but today it is much calmer. Obedient? Unlike his older brother, Carlos never really went through a stage of adolescent rebellion. “He was, and still is, a very easy person to deal with,” he concluded.

Virginia Garfia now follows in her son’s footsteps in some of the tournaments on the calendar, and He is also a member of the board of trustees of the Carlos Alcaraz Foundationwhile her husband is in charge of managing the Carlos Alcaraz Academy, the tennis school they created a few years ago in Murcia.