After losing unexpectedly to 74th-ranked Botic van de Zandschulp in the second round of the 2024 US Open, Carlos Alcaraz will now be playing in the ATP 500 Beijing Open.

The World No.3 is going to play in the Chinese leg of the ATP 500 World Tour as the second seed in Beijing. Last year, the 21-year-old lost to the defending champion Jannik Sinner in the semifinals in straight sets.

The main draw starts on 26 September, giving the 2022 US Open winner plenty of time to bounce back from his defeat to van de Zandschulp.

The current champion of Wimbledon and Roland Garros started his journey at Flushing Meadows in his usual style by defeating Australian Li Tu with a score of 6-2, 4-6, 6-3, 6-1.

The Spaniard, who had won the last two Majors, was expected to win in New York and complete a hat-trick of Grand Slam victories in 2024. However, things took a different turn as the Dutch player played well and his opponent made more mistakes than usual, leading to an early exit from the US Open after just two matches.

In 2024, Carlos Alcaraz had a great season in singles, winning 39 matches and losing 9. He defended his titles at Indian Wells and Wimbledon, and won his first French Open.

Alcaraz made history by becoming the youngest player to win Grand Slams on three different surfaces. He finished as the runner-up in the Paris Olympics, where he lost to Novak Djokovic in the final.

At the Australian Open, he reached the quarterfinals for the first time but was defeated by Alexander Zverev. Unfortunately, he lost to Nicolas Jarry in the semifinals of the Argentina Open and had to retire from the Rio Open due to an ankle injury.

The 21-year-old player came back to the tennis courts and won his first title since Wimbledon 2023 by keeping his Indian Wells crown, beating Daniil Medvedev in the final. But he lost in the quarterfinals of the Miami Open for the second year in a row, this time to Gregor Dimitrov.

A stubborn injury to his right forearm made him pull out of several important clay tournaments and affected his performance, leading to him not being able to defend his title at the Madrid Open, where he was defeated in the quarterfinals. Alcaraz then made a good recovery and managed to win the French Open, becoming the youngest player to win a Major on all three different surfaces.

He had a busy summer, winning his second consecutive title at the All-England Championships before earning a silver medal at his first Olympics in Paris. Carlos Alcaraz is now aiming to return to his top form at the China Open in Beijing and win his fourth title of the year.