Carlos Alcaraz has been getting the odd comparison with Tiger Woods for a while.

Mats Wilander made the connection in 2023, the year after the Spaniard had, aged 19, won his first major – the US Open – and become the youngest world No.1 in ATP history. The gist was that Alcaraz embodied characteristics from each of Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer, but was destined to be bigger than the “Big Three” because he made being that good look fun, too.

“He’s going to be like the Tiger Woods effect,” Wilander said. “Because people want to be a part of tennis because of Carlos Alcaraz.”

It happened again in 2025, when he pulled off a historic comeback from two sets down to defeat Jannik Sinner in the final at Roland Garros and the PGA Tour made a point of congratulating him. “5 majors by age 22. Not even Tiger Woods did that,” the Tour’s official account wrote on X.

There were, understandably, some (many) people in the golf community questioning the equivalence of an achievement in such different sports.

In 2026, another parallel has emerged, albeit one safer from apples v oranges criticism: Alcaraz to tennis, like Woods to golf, is very comfortable with change; to take something that is working peerlessly and modify it, adapt it, or dispose of it completely and start again.

The latter occurred in December when Alcaraz parted ways with long-time coach Juan Carlos Ferrero. It was one of those announcements that tipped the earth slightly off its axis, mainly because this partnership seemed so fine. Fine in the sense that Ferrero........

© The Sydney Morning Herald