Not Carloz Alcaraz’s win, not his game plan, not his shots or break points, the 22-year-old Spaniard’s new haircut made headlines at the Arthur Ashe Stadium as he took on the American Reilly Opelka in his first-round US Open clash on Monday, August 25.
Carlos Alcaraz, the emerging 22-year-old tennis star, made an emphatic start to his US Open 2025 campaign, beating the American Reilly Opelka in straight sets 6-4, 7-5, 6-4 as he slowly got back to his usual hitting form. However, strangely, his new haircut or hairstyle dominated the headlines and even the commentators and Alcaraz’s fellow colleagues couldn’t stop reacting to it. It was a buzz cut, alright, and it gave many a throwback to David Beckham’s hairstyle of the 2000s, including the US Open’s social media team.
“Welcome back, David Beckham 2000,” the US Open team wrote on X (formerly Twitter). The former tennis star John McEnroe, however, didn’t have a liking to it and even ridiculed it, saying that anyone could get it for just 20 bucks in New York. “First of all his haircut… did he get the buzz cut from his hair stylist in Spain? He brought him in at Wimbledon. I’m wondering because you can get that for 20 bucks in the city,” McEnroe said on commentary.
When asked about the same by star golfer Rory McIlroy, why he decided to get that haircut, Alcaraz responded saying, “I just got a haircut that I struggled with. I mean, I had to start fresh.” The 36-year-old golfer was probably the only one to react positively among those who have as he replied, “I like it… It’s good.”
Frances Tiafoe, the American who won his first round clash against the Japanese Yoshihito Nishioka, found it terrible too. “It’s horrible. It’s terrible. It’s definitely terrible. That’s my guy, though,” Tiafoe said when asked about Alcaraz’s haircut.
“Funny, I looked and him, and I was like, ‘I guess you’re aerodynamic.’ “I don’t know who told him to do that, but it’s terrible. From a guy who gets haircuts week in, week out, who prides himself on good haircuts, it’s horrendous,” Tiafoe added. “But at the end of the day, it’s Carlos, and that’s my guy.”
Alcaraz will take on Mattia Bellucci, the Italian tennis player, in the second round.