Carlos Alcaraz might not lose this year. Of course, he probably will, but he hasn't yet. After winning the Australian Open for the first time, he is through to the quarterfinals at the Qatar Open. He hasn't truly been challenged yet at the event, and he might not be until he likely faces Jannik Sinner in the final.
In his round of 16 match, Alcaraz took on Valentin Royer, the No. 60 player on the ATP tour, who has a career record of 11-17, and didn't win his first match of 2026 until he won his first match in Qatar, setting up his showdown with the ATP No. 1.
To be fair, the Frenchman didn't play poorly. He lost in straight sets (6-2, 7-5), but he wasn't embarrassed. Still, what he said at the net while doing the post-match handshake with Alcaraz likely got the most notice. The moment showed that Royer probably didn't feel strongly about beating the Spaniard, but kept his sense of humor about the entire affair.
Valentin Royer delivers hilarious warning to Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner
Royer said, "I'll come (for) you and Jannik (Sinner), don't worry. Some day."
Without missing a beat, Alcaraz responded with, "I will wait for you, man."
The who bit was in jest, but might make one want to root for Valentin Royer in the future. He hasn't won a title yet, and the 24-year-old might never take home a trophy as a professional, but how good would that be? Like one of us, he knows his chances against Alcaraz and Sinner are far from good. That he gets a laugh out of it should be what we would all do.
As for Carlos Alcaraz, he next faces Karen Khachanov in the quarterfinals. Assuming he wins that, he could be just two steps away from another final against ATP No. 2 Sinner. The Italian has to defeat Jakub Mensik in his quarterfinal match.
Maybe Sinner and Alcaraz have difficult matches in their quarterfinal matches and don't reach the semifinals, but they are seemingly so far ahead of the rest of the ATP field, unless Novak Djokovic is involved in the same tournament, that any event they enter together makes all the early-round matches appear to be exhibitions as a lead-up to Alcaraz and Sinner playing again.