Carlos Alcaraz admits there are moments when he doubts his ability in the sport when scrolling through the hundreds of comments on his social media posts.
The Spanish world No. 2 is one of the sport’s biggest names, with an Instagram following of 8.5 million and a following of 1.9 million on X. At the age of 22, he has already won seven Grand Slam titles and earlier this year became the youngest male player in history to achieve a career Slam. Overall, he has won 26 Tour-level titles and has reached the final at nine others.
Despite his success, Alcaraz is not immune to social media abuse. In recent years, various players have voiced their experience of online hate, which includes serious threats made directly against them and their families. A report published in June 2025 highlighted findings by Signify Group’s The Threat Matrix, which concluded that there were 56 reports of abusive communication by 28 players, with 77% of the abuse coming from angry gamblers. Furthermore, during 2024, 1.6 million social media posts and comments were analysed. Around 8,000 posts/comments sent from 4,200 accounts were classed as abusive, violent or threatening.
“I’m someone who checks social media more than I should, and certain comments really get to me—they make you doubt what you’re capable of,” Alcaraz told reporters following his opening win at the Barcelona Open.
“After certain losses, at certain moments, you read comments that make you wonder if you’re good enough or not.”
Alcaraz credits the support from those around him for helping him deal with these remarks. He is coached on the tour by Samuel López and is also supported at some tournaments by his brother Alvar.
“I have my family and my team to lift me up during the tough times.” He said.
After losing to Jannik Sinner in the Monte Carlo final, Alcaraz is hoping to get back to winning ways on home territory this week. However, in his opening match, he suffered an injury scare and called for a physio to help address a ‘sharp pain’ he felt in his right wrist/forearm. Spanish newspaper Marca has since reported that Alcaraz has opted to rest on Wednesday. He cancelled his two-hour training block at the RCT Barcelona.
“These are minor issues that have cropped up during the few days I’ve had to recover, when I’ve made some unusual movements. I was more relaxed going into the second set,” the former world No.1 said of the issue yesterday.
“Juanjo, my physical therapist, will take a look at it, but these are issues I’ve had before and they didn’t get any worse.
“My goal is to be in the best possible shape for Thursday’s match.”
Alcaraz will next play Tomas Machac.
