It's too early to call Alcaraz the "King of Clay".

In the early hours of May 19, the Rome Masters came to an end. Alcaraz, a Spanish all-round fighter who returned from injury at the Rome Masters and returned from injury at the ATP 500 Barcelona on April 20 and suffered a tear in the right thigh adductor muscle on April 20, played well in the final against the world No. 1 and Italian newcomer Wang Sinner, who had just completed a three-month ban and returned to Italy in two sets, not only winning the first Rome Masters title and the seventh Masters title in his career, but also ending Sinner's 26-game winning streak across the season.

With the excellent performance of winning the Monte Carlo and Rome Masters in the 2025 clay season so far, Alcaraz has become the fourth player in the history of men's tennis to win all major tournaments on clay, alongside the previous giants such as the Brazilian bearded Kurten, the Spanish god of war Nadal, and the Serbian king Djokovic.

There are four major clay tournaments in men's tennis, namely the French Open and the three masters of Monte Carlo, Madrid and Rome. It should be noted that the Madrid Masters was a hard court Masters before 2008, and since 2009, the Madrid Masters has been changed to a clay event, replacing the previous Hamburg Clay Masters, and the original Hamburg Clay Masters has been downgraded to an ATP 500 clay event since 2009.

Born in May 2003 and turned professional in 2018, Alcaraz has started the 2022 season and began to write his own achievements. After winning back-to-back Masters titles in Miami and Madrid, Alcaraz won his first career Grand Slam title at the US Open, becoming the 28th world No. 1 and the youngest to be ranked since the introduction of the computerized points ranking system in ATP1973. Today, Alcaraz has won four Grand Slam titles and seven Masters titles, making him one of the most dominant players in men's tennis today.

But recently, after Alcaraz won the Rome Masters, some fans and media declared that Alcaraz is the new "king of clay". Doufen disagreed with this discussion and did not dare to agree.

Far from it, since the beginning of this century, there are only two recognized kings of clay in men's tennis: one is the Brazilian bearded Kurten, and the other is the Spanish god of war Nadal.

Kurten won three French Open titles (1997, 2000, 2021) and four clay Masters titles (Monte Carlo Masters 1999 and 2001, Rome Masters 1999 and Madrid Masters 2000), becoming the first king of clay this century.

Nadal rose to prominence in the clay season in 2005 and has since won one title after another on clay. Nadal, the Spanish god of war who announced his retirement in November 2024, has won 14 French Open titles, 11 Monte Carlo Masters titles, 5 Madrid Masters titles (including the 2008 Hamburg Masters) and 10 Rome Masters titles.

In fact, even if you only talk about clay records, Serbian champion Djokovic has far more clay championships than Kurten. To date, Djokovic has won three French Open titles (2016, 2021, 2023), two Monte Carlo Masters, three Madrid Masters and six Rome Masters. So why does Kurten have the reputation of being the "King of Clay" and never have fans and media ever called Djokovic the "King of Clay"?

First, because Djokovic and Nadal are in the same era, although Djokovic's clay record is extremely good, compared with Nadal, the first person in history on clay, Djokovic's dominance on clay is of course dwarfed, and it is difficult to obtain the reputation of "King of Clay". In addition, Djokovic's record on hard and grass courts far exceeds that of clay courts, and he has long been known as the "king of hard courts" and "king of grass". Third, on the most important clay court, the French Open, Djokovic has won three titles, but he has never successfully defended his title, nor has he won the French Open three times in five years.

From this point of view, it is as strong as Serbian king Djokovic, and his record on clay is brilliant, second only to Nadal, the king of clay, far more than Kurten, the king of clay, and has not yet won the reputation of "king of clay". Alcaraz has only won one French Open title and four clay Masters titles, and it is already a supreme honor to be compared with the giants of his predecessors, how can he be called the "King of Clay"?

There is a long way to go, Alcaraz continues to work hard!

(Source: Tennis Home Author: Colorful Bean Powder)