Garbine Muguruza congratulates Carlos Alcaraz for winning Indian Wells 2023 title and becoming World No. 1

Spain's Garbine Muguruza congratulated compatriot Carlos Alcaraz for winning the Indian Wells title this past Sunday and thus returning to the World No. 1 ranking. Alcaraz surpassed Novak Djokovic for the top rankings spot with a dominant 6-3, 6-2 performance in the final against Daniil Medvedev, handing Medvedev his first loss in 20 matches.

Alcaraz became the world No. 1 for the second time in his career. Earlier, he earned the top spot for the first time after winning the 2022 US Open, before losing it to Novak Djokovic after the 2023 Australian Open, which he missed due to injury.

Muguruza, who has not played on tour since late January, took to social media to react to Alcaraz's latest achievement at Indian Wells.

"Congratulations @carlitosalcarazz #N1," Muguruza wrote on Instagram Stories.

Garbine Muguruza reacts to Carlos Alcaraz's Indian Wells win.

Two-time Grand Slam champion Muguruza is yet to win a tour-level match this season, having lost four consecutive first-round matches at Adelaide, Adelaide 2, the Australian Open, and the Lyon Open, respectively. Her most recent appearance was a 1-6, 4-6 loss to Linda Noskova in the first round at Lyon.

Meanwhile, Alcaraz now has another big task at hand as he needs to win the Miami Open title to retain his No. 1 ranking. As the defending champion, anything short of a successful title defense for Alcaraz will take Djokovic back to the summit of the rankings after Miami.

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"Don't take pressure, just to play relaxed; That's for me the most important thing" - Carlos Alcaraz after winning Indian Wells

Carlos Alcaraz celebrates his Indian Wells title.

Carlos Alcaraz has grown from strength to strength since the start of the 2022 season. However, he feels that he is still the same tennis player he was a year ago in terms of skill, but has improved a lot on the mental side of the sport as he is no longer taking a lot of stress from matches and tournaments like he did earlier. While there are nervy moments, the 19-year-old feels the most important thing for him is to be as relaxed as he can on the court.

"Well, I think my tennis didn't improve so much since last year," Carlos Alcaraz said in a press conference after the Indian Wells final. "What I improve a lot is to don't take the pressure, just to play relaxed, you know. That's for me the most important thing."

"That's why I show a great level, because I -- well, I feel like I have no pressure. I enjoy. I'm playing relaxed," he added.

Alcaraz will begin his Miami Open campaign later this week in the second round against either Facundo Bagnis or a qualifier. He could then face Andy Murray in the third round. Alcaraz and fellow rising youngster Holger Rune have been placed in the same quarter of the draw, and they are in the same half of the draw as third seed Casper Ruud and sixth seed Andrey Rublev.