The bells ring at the church in El Palmar, the parish of the Immaculate Conception. The round of First Communions has just ended and the eight o’clock Mass is about to begin, but there is no religious service to announce. The parish is buzzing, and murmurs can be heard. Andrés Marín, one of the parish priests, steps up to the pulpit and asks, “Do you know who the bells are ringing for?”
“Then there was this beautiful unanimous shout: ‘For Alcaraz!’ ” the priest recalls with a broad smile. “Everyone stood up and there was wonderful spontaneous applause; one woman even started to cry. The whole town came alive in that moment. It was magical. My God, what power a racket has. How it moved people’s hearts.”
— ABC, in the wake of Carlos' win at the Madrid Open in 2022
