Alcaraz Says New Unexpected Haircut Is Result Of Brother's Misunderstanding

Wednesday, 27 August 2025 at 13:05

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byErik Virostko

Carlos Alcaraz stunned everyone at the US Open with his new haircut, and he finally explained how it came to be.

There probably isn't any player in the Top 100 on the ATP Tour who has changed more haircuts than Alcaraz in the past three years. From shorter hair to longer hair, and a literate buzz cut, there probably isn't anything that fans haven't seen on the Spaniard's head.

Still, he can surprise the fans with his haircuts, and that was definitely the case at this year's US Open when he suddenly appeared on a practice court with a buzzcut. Some compared it to David Beckham's famous buzzcut from 2000, while others didn't like the change.

The haircut clearly divided the fans, even though in a light-hearted way. Regardless of whether they liked the haircut or not, everyone wanted to know the answer to one question. Why?

Naturally, that's what Alcaraz was asked after his first-round win over Reilly Opelka. The World No. 2 player bested the tall American 6-4, 7-5, 6-4, and his post-match press conference wasn't about his performance at all.

It was Alcaraz's hair, or better said, its absence, that stole the show. The 22-year-old explained that he had the haircut because his brother, Alvaro, who travels with him, had misunderstood the hair clipper, and after cutting a part of his hair, there was no way to do anything else but a buzz cut.

"I felt like my hair was really long already. And before the tournament, I said that I really want to get a haircut. Suddenly, my brother just misunderstood the machine. He just cut it, and the only way to fix it was just to shave it off. To be honest, it’s not that good… It’s not that bad, I guess."

Alcaraz is a multi-millionaire. If he wanted to, he could afford to have a personal barber who would travel with him around the world, but, of course, that would be unreasonable. Still, there are different options, like visiting one of the thousands of professional barbers available in New York.

That's why Alcaraz was asked why he didn't get his hair cut by his barber Victor, or any other barber, and instead left it to his brother, who probably doesn't have much experience with cutting hair.

"New York is too far away for Victor. I’m not really into hair at all. I’m the guy who thinks like, 'okay hair grows,' and in a few days it’s gonna be okay, I guess. It just happened and that’s it."

Alcaraz might have explained that he doesn't care about his hair that much, but he still saw all the reactions from the fans and fellow players. Frances Tiafoe, in particular, was one of the first to come and take a look at it.

The five-time Grand Slam champion admitted that he has been laughing at all the reactions that he saw online, as everyone has been discussing his haircut.

"I mean, since I just show the people my haircut, I didn't see anything else in talking about my haircut. Some people like it. Some people don't like it. To be honest, I'm just laughing about the reaction of the people. It is what it is. So I can't do anything else right now, so I'm just laughing about everything that they are talking about my haircut."