27 Aug 2025

Tennis star Carlos Alcaraz amused by reaction to his accidental buzz cut

7:06 am on 27 August 2025
Spanish tennis player Carlos Alcaraz.

Spanish tennis player Carlos Alcaraz. Photo: CLIVE BRUNSKILL /AFP

Carlos Alcaraz has revealed the new cropped hairstyle he is sporting at the US Open was the result of his brother mishandling the clippers when he wanted a quick trim before the tournament.

The buzz cut was the talk of Flushing Meadows on the second day of the championships as the second-seeded Spaniard dismantled Reilly Opelka 6-4 7-5 6-4 to ease into the second round.

"I felt like my hair was really long already, and before the tournament I just really wanted to get a haircut," the 22-year-old told reporters.

"Suddenly just my brother just - he misunderstood with the machine. He just cut it. Then, the only way to fix it was just to shave it off. To be honest, it's not that bad, I guess."

Alcaraz flew his barber Victor Martinez from Spain to Paris earlier this year to give him a more fashionable fade cut midway through the French Open but said New York was too far for a similar intervention.

The new style had divided opinion, the French Open champion added.

"Some people like it, some people don't like it," he said.

"To be honest, I'm just laughing about the reaction of the people. It is what it is. I can't do anything else right now, so I'm just laughing about everything they are saying about my haircut."

Alcaraz said he was unsure if his new streamlined style made him faster on court but said it would all be academic in a few days given how fast his hair grew.

"Every time that I get a haircut, in two or three days it's gone," he said.

"In three days you're going to see another hair(style)."

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - SEPTEMBER 03: Frances Tiafoe of the United States reacts against Rinky Hijikata of Australia during their Men's Singles Fourth Round match on Day Seven of the 2023 US Open at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center on September 03, 2023 in the Flushing neighborhood of the Queens borough of New York City.   Sarah Stier/Getty Images/AFP (Photo by Sarah Stier / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP)

Frances Tiafoe. Photo: AFP

Among those critical of the new trim was American world number 17 Frances Tiafoe, who, despite sporting a close-cropped style himself, described Alcaraz's new haircut as "horrendous".

"Frances is lying. Frances is lying," laughed Alcaraz. "No, come on? He showed up here saying that it is terrible?

"I know he's lying. I know he likes the haircut. He likes it. He told me."

-Reuters

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