Carlos Alcaraz and Iga Swiatek reset with Indian Wells wins, as rivals endure their own slip-ups

Iga Swiatek and Carlos Alcaraz have grown up together on their respective tours.

They took them by storm two years ago, when Swiatek won the Sunshine Double and Alcaraz nearly did the same. In 2022 and 2023, they won major titles—three for Iga, two for Carlos—and rose to No. 1 in the world. Their free-swinging play seemed set to define the sport in the 2020s, and they both looked as if they were heading for double-digit Grand Slam counts.

At the same time, the 22-year-old Pole and the 20-year-old Spaniard haven’t won everything in sight, the way many of us expected. They can both get a little too free with their swings, and a little too youthfully ambitious with their shot choices. Since 2022, each has also gained a rival: Aryna Sabalenka for Swiatek, Jannik Sinner for Alcaraz. Coming into Indian Wells, it looked as if Sabalenka and Sinner, who had won the singles titles at the Australian Open, might have the upper hand.

But tennis seasons are long, and Iga and Carlitos aren’t going anywhere anytime soon. The slow hard courts in Indian Wells are also tailor-made for them. Swiatek rolled through her draw with the loss of just 21 games in six rounds; in three of those matches, including the final, she won the second set 6-0. Alcaraz wasn’t quite as devastating; he dropped two sets along the way. Unlike Swiatek, though, he did record a win over his rival, Sinner. Maybe most important for Alcaraz, he didn’t lose focus mid-match or give back any leads, two things that have plagued him of late.

After their disappointments in Melbourne, each took this win as a sign that bad times can be followed by good, and each celebrated with a little extra joy and energy.

“I just know that it hasn’t been easy after Australia,” Swiatek said when she was asked why she seemed especially happy by this victory. “And I’ve been working hard to play well and to handle everything mentally well.”

“You can overcome all the problems that you have,” Alcaraz said when he was asked what lesson he took away from his title run. “It doesn’t matter what problems you have. If you believe in yourself, you have a really good team around, you work hard, everything can turn around.”

Almost as important, Alcaraz and Swiatek also learned that their fellow Top 5 players will their own bad days and slip-ups.

Sinner had been a perfect 16-0 in 2023, and he seemed sure to extend that streak to 17 when he won the first set over Alcaraz 6-1. But then, for the first time in a long time, he looked mortal. He made errors, and let Alcaraz become a runaway shot-making train. The same went for Daniil Medvedev and Alexander Zverev. The Russian out-foxed Alcaraz in the US Open semis last year, and the German out-hit him at the Australian Open this year. In Indian Wells, Alcaraz reclaimed his mastery over both men with his pure superiority of his athleticism and ball-striking.

Swiatek didn’t go on a revenge tour the way Alcaraz did, but she must have watched as the two women just behind her in the rankings, Sabalenka and Coco Gauff, suffered from the return of old issues. Sabalenka was frazzled and ultimately out-played by the lower-ranked Emma Navarro, while Gauff committed 17 double faults in one match, and struggled to find her baseline groove for most of the tournament.

Swiatek and Alcaraz may not win everything, but there’s still nobody they can’t beat.

These titles had the feel of a reset and a doubt-queller for both of them. Indian Wells, as the year’s first mandatory Masters 1000, has had a predictive quality in the past, especially on the women’s side. In 2018 and 2019, Naomi Osaka and Bianca Andreescu surprised everyone by winning here; then they surprised everyone again by winning the US Open later that season. In 2022, Swiatek won Indian Wells, and kept winning until July. Last year, Alcaraz won in the desert, and again at Wimbledon.

For her part, Swiatek says she’s won’t speculate about what might come next. She already knows she can win just about anywhere.

“I don’t know what’s going to happen in the future,” Swiatek said. “Two years ago, it felt like [proof that I could win on hard courts]…But, I mean, I already kind of know that. So this time is just, I’m super happy with the work.”

Alcaraz said earlier this week that feeling good about his game, rather than winning titles, is the most important thing for him. You might think he would change his tune after taking home the title, but he didn’t.

“For me, if I win tournaments or not, I don’t care,” he said. “It’s about enjoying playing tennis.”

“That’s why I’m really, really happy to lift this trophy, because I found myself at this tournament, and I felt really, really good.”

The co-education of Alcaraz and Swiatek continues. This week they both learned, if they didn’t know it already, that, along with their struggles, there will be many more triumphs ahead for both of them.