August 26, 2025) FLUSHING, NY – Carlos Alcaraz, the No. 2 seed at the US Open won his first-round match over the almost seven-foot, big-serving American Reilly Opelka 6-4, 7-5, 6-4 in the second match of the evening session in Arthur Ashe Stadium on Monday night.
Most of the news about the match was not about the match itself, but about the Spaniard’s haircut – a buzzcut.
There were numerous reactions all over social media before he even took the court, as photos leaked out.
The haircut even came up in his post-match media conference:
Q. I wanted to ask about what happened to your hair. Did you get it cut, or I saw something about your brother cutting it. What was the sort of timeline of your transformation, because you look very different than the last time…
CARLOS ALCARAZ: Quite different I guess, yeah. I mean, it was just I felt like my hair was really long already, and before the tournament I just really wanted to get a haircut.
Suddenly just my brother just — he misunderstood with the machine. He just cut it. Then, you know, the only way to fix it is just shave it off. It’s just what he came, this haircut.
To be honest, it’s not that — it’s not that bad, I guess (smiling).
Q. Why was your brother cutting your hair? I know like in Paris you brought Victor to Paris to cut your hair.
CARLOS ALCARAZ: Yeah, New York is too far away for Victor, so…
Q. There are professional people in New York too.
CARLOS ALCARAZ: Yeah. It’s just — okay, I’m not really into the hair at all. So I’m the guy who thinks, okay, the hair grows, and in a few days it’s going to be already okay, I guess.
It just happened, and that’s it (smiling).
Q. What response have you gotten from other people about your haircut, and does it matter to you?
CARLOS ALCARAZ: Sorry. Say again.
Q. What have you heard from other people about your haircut, and does it matter what the other people think?
CARLOS ALCARAZ: 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.
Q. Did it affect your game at all today?
CARLOS ALCARAZ: I think I was faster if I — (laughing). No, it was funny when I saw myself on the screen with the haircut. It was, I mean, super white, so it’s like weird for me to see myself that white in the hair.
Alcaraz plays Mattia Bellucci in the second round.
