The truth behind Alcaraz’s “terrible” new haircut: Brother as the main “barber,” with Tiafoe “assisting”

The day before the opening round of the 2025 US Open, Alcaraz still sported dense long hair and a bit of stubble. Yet on the morning of his match versus Reilly Opelka, he showed up at the Flushing Meadows practice courts with a fresh short haircut.

This new style instantly became a hot topic on social media, and a clip of Tiafoe playfully teasing Alcaraz in the locker room gym was widely shared online.

After Tiafoe defeated Yoshihito Nishioka, a reporter asked him about Alcaraz’s new haircut, to which Tiafoe replied:

“Yeah, that haircut is awful, honestly hard to put into words. It looks really bad. He’s my good buddy, so it’s kind of funny. When I saw him, I thought, now you must be more ‘streamlined’ and faster on the court.

“Mosquito (Alcaraz’s coach) was laughing too, saying, ‘Yeah, he’s running faster than before now.’ I responded, ‘Well, that’s trouble for everyone else.’

To be honest, I don’t know who told him the haircut looked good or who made him cut it that way, but it’s truly ugly. I get my hair cut every week and am confident about my style, so by my standards, this is a disaster. But at the end of the day, he’s my close friend. Seriously though, next time he cuts his hair, he has to consult me first, no doubt about it.”

Later, Alcaraz defeated Opelka 6-4, 7-5, 6-4 to advance to the second round.

However, after the match, everyone’s attention was on his new haircut. When asked about Tiafoe’s comments, Alcaraz said, “Francis is lying, don’t believe him. Of course, I saw that video. He’s just pretending to say my haircut looks bad. He actually likes it, really does, and he told me so privately. So don’t trust what he says out loud.”

Still, Alcaraz went on to explain in detail how the haircut “went wrong” — the culprit was his brother Alvaro, who made a serious mistake while cutting.

“I think the haircut changed quite a bit this time. Before, I felt my hair was already long, so I said I wanted a trim before the tournament.

“But my brother completely misunderstood when he used the clippers. One cut and it was a mess. Now there’s no fixing it, so I had to shave it all short. Honestly, it’s not the best look, but I don’t think it’s that bad either.”

When competing in Europe, Alcaraz often invites his barber Victor Martinez to fly in and take care of his hair, but this time at the US Open, that wasn’t possible.

“New York is too far from Victor. Actually, I’m not that concerned about my hair. I always think, ‘It’s okay, hair grows back,’ and it should look better in a few days. That’s how it happened, nothing more to say.”

Every move of a star player is magnified in the tennis world, especially something “as big” as a hairstyle. For players, results are what matter most — the source of all confidence. When a young Agassi traveled the world with a blonde wig, he once found it broken before a match and desperately tried to fix it before feeling at ease to compete. As he won more and gained fame, with friends’ support, he finally had the courage to ditch the wig and show his true self.

Now, the cheerful, confident Alcaraz has no problem with the looks of his hairstyle, whether good or bad. Besides, being “streamlined” really can make you faster — at least, theoretically! [laughs]

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