Carlos Alcaraz reached the round of 16 of the Indian Wells Open in routine fashion and then shared a cryptic message on the camera for fans to decode and ponder.
The defending champion raced from the blocks against 31st seed Felix Auger-Aliassime, breaking his serve twice in each set. Alcaraz faced just one break point on his own serve during the match, which he erased.
The Spaniard posted better-serving numbers than Auger-Aliassime, who shockingly landed just 67% of first serves and won a paltry 54% behind it. A total of five double faults also did not help the Canadian. It was the smoothest of wins for Alcaraz, who reached the second week at the desert.
But his message after the match gave tennis fans a bit of homework. The 20-year-old wrote on the camera, "N See you soon!" without offering any hints of what the message meant or who he was referring to.
Alcaraz has since tweeted twice about the alphabet N, first with an eye emoji and then a winking emoji. Tennis fans took to social media to share their reactions, and some have been decrypting the message.
"Who/what/where/when?" Tennis TV's admin asked. Given Alcaraz's obsession with the World No. 1 ranking, which Novak Djokovic currently holds and is not expected to relinquish before mid-April, one user questioned if he was referring to the five-time Indian Wells champion.
"Is he hinting at Novak? Norrie? What's your guess??"
"Novak he's calling his shot!"
Alcaraz's love life remains private, but one fan opined that the message was aimed at his girlfriend, contrary to many guesses related to tennis. The tweet read, "Everyone thinking is tennis related meanwhile, I'm thinking its a message to a girl."
With news that the tennis documentary Break Point has been cancelled, another user asserted that the N might have been implying to a return of the show.
"What if it's Netflix again?"
Alcaraz has not been quizzed about it during his post-match press conference. For now, he will switch his attention to the fourth-round meeting against Fabian Marozsan, who, surprisingly, defeated him at last year's Italian Open.