Those who watched his early years in a Murcian village reveal how the world No 1 emerged from the grounds of Tiro de Pichón
In the south-eastern corner of El Palmar, a village in south-eastern Spain, the Real Sociedad Club de Campo sits in the mountains overlooking the Murcia region’s eponymous capital city. Exactly 100 years ago, the club was founded solely as a hunters’ society, where those of privileged backgrounds would convene to shoot pigeons out of the sky. Its evolution into a handsome private tennis club has unexpectedly positioned it as the place where many people first glimpsed the player who could be the future of the men’s game.
It was on the grounds of Tiro de Pichón (Pigeon Strike), as the club is still colloquially known as today, where many people saw Carlos Alcaraz and left with the belief that they had seen something special.
