Tennis star dives into pool with screaming ball girls after Barcelona victory

Spanish tennis ace Carlos Alcaraz successfully defended his title at the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell. In order to celebrate the momentous feat, he jumped into the pool at the venue followed by a group of screaming ball girls. His coach, former tennis star Juan Carlos Ferrero also joined in the fun.

Alcaraz proved that he is back on track this season after overcoming a series of injuries. In Barcelona, he defeated Stefanos Tsitsipas in the final in straight sets, 6-3, 6-4.

The 19-year-old Spaniard, tipped by many to be the successor to "King of Clay" Rafael Nadal, showed off his playful spirit by continuing the tradition of jumping into the pool at the Reial Club to mark his latest Barcelona Open victory. He then got back up quickly before locking Ferrero in a bear hug to force him to jump into the the water with him.

Ferrero is of course familiar with the tradition, having been a previous winner at the event himself. Other legendary players who have won the Barcelona Open title include Nadal, Bjorn Borg and Ivan Lendl. Alcaraz is only the fourth Spanish player to ever win the Barcelona open title twice, and eleventh player overall to have managed back-to back victories at the event.

At only 19 years old, Alcaraz is already enjoying having his name mentioned alongside some of the biggest names in tennis history. This is perhaps why many are already looking at him as the natural successor to Nadal, who is already in the twilight of his career. The man from Mallorca skipped the event in Barcelona after announcing that he is not recovering as quickly as he had hoped from an injury he picked up at the Australian Open earlier this year.

Nadal has also pulled out of the Madrid Open, with many expecting him to try his best to make it to the French Open in what could potentially be his final Roland Garros outing. He won the event last year for a record 14th time. He has been dealing with injury problems since, and it won't be surprising if this year will mark his last appearance at his beloved Grand Slam.

Meanwhile, back to Barcelona, losing finalist Tsitsipas has now lost 10 finals in a category 500 event. It is hardly a record that anyone wants to have, but the Greek player has shown that he definitely has the chops to make it deep into tournaments and win some of them himself. Unfortunately, he was no match for the Spaniard this time around.

Alcaraz seemed jittery at the start of the final match, especially after having recently failed to defend his titles at Rio in Miami. He was broken early but he managed to bounce back quickly to break back and regain the momentum. After the setback at the very start of the match, Alcaraz powered through and never gave Tsitsipas another chance to gain an advantage.

On the way to the trophy, Alcaraz also beat Nuno Borges and fellow Spaniards Roberto Bautista Agut and Alejandro Davidovich Fokina. He then defeated British player British Dan Evans in the semi-final before facing Tsitsipas.

Alcaraz will also be the favourite to win the Madrid Masters 1000, which runs from April 24-May 7. He enters the tournament as the top seed, and will be hoping to clinch the victory in preparation for Roland Garros. He still sits behind Novak Djokovic in the world rankings, but strong finishes in the clay court season may help him dethrone the Serbian ace.

Either way, Alcaraz is already establishing himself as one of the new crop of players that would soon take over from the "Big Three" in tennis. Roger Federer has already called time on his career, and Nadal is already skipping more and more tournaments, Djokovic probably has a few more years left in his tank, but a new dawn is most certainly coming in the ATP tour.