Carlos Alcaraz has kept fans guessing as he appeared to drop a huge hint after his latest win in Indian Wells.
Following his third round win over Felix Auger-Aliassime, Alcaraz left a mysterious message as he signed the camera in the aftermath of the match.
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The Spanish star wrote on the camera lens: "N see you soon!" before drawing further attention to his statement later on social media.
In response to a video shared on X by Tennis TV, showing footage of him delivering the message, the 20-year-old dropped several replies, first quote-tweeting the post with a trio of eye emojis.
Alcaraz did not stop there, replying to his original tweet with a blushing hand over mouth emoji, before writing a separate tweet simply saying 'N' alongside another cheeky facial expression.
The world number two's social media activity sent fans into overdrive as they flocked to his comments to speculate who 'N' may be.
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Followers of the two-time grand slam champion were not short of suggestions, and a few standout candidates quickly appeared.
Among the most popular guesses were tour rivals Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal, while others pointed out that it could also be a reference to his sponsor Nike, or even Netflix.
The latter idea comes after his recent victory over Nadal in the first ever Netflix Slam, a one-off exhibition match in Las Vegas between the pair which aired live on the platform, with fans believing Alcaraz was hinting at further collaboration with the streaming giants.
Djokovic would be the most obvious target of the message, who is also currently competing at Indian Wells, as he prepares to face the Italian Luca Nardi in the third round.
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The world's top two ranked players sit on opposite sides of the draw and are due to meet in the final if they continue to progress in the California tournament dubbed 'Tennis Paradise'.
After receiving first-round byes, both players advanced in the second round in three sets, with the Spaniard beating Matteo Arnaldo 6-7(7) 6-0 6-1, while Djokovic defeated Aleksandar Vukic 6-2 5-7 6-3.
Alcaraz will be hoping his Serbian rival is victorious in his next match against lucky loser Nardi, having already secured a spot in the round of 16 following a 6-2 6-3 win over the 31st seed Auger-Aliassime.
The 2023 Wimbledon champion is bidding to defend his Indian Wells title and reach his first final since the Cincinnati Masters in August 2023, where he missed out on the title to Djokovic.
After enduring a difficult start the 2024, Alcaraz admitted after his most recent win that he has struggled for confidence, but was buoyed by his latest performance.
Speaking in his post-match press conference he said: "My confidence has gone down a little bit, I've been struggling during practice every day. I'm trying to keep my confidence as high as I can.
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"After the first round I was struggling a little bit in the first set. I didn’t play my tennis, but I found the good parts to start playing a little bit better.
"Today [against Auger-Aliassime] was a really good match since the beginning until the last ball. So it was really helpful for my confidence and for my tennis.”
The former world number one must now turn his attention to his next match against Fabian Maroszan, who recorded a shock win in the pair's last encounter at the 2023 Rome Masters.
Alcaraz revealed that he is hungry for revenge against the Hungarian.
Looking ahead to the tie, he confessed: “After that loss, I felt really, really bad. After that match, I really wanted to rematch that match against him."
He continued: "Yeah, I’m really looking forward to playing against him again.”
Fans will be hoping Alcaraz can continue his good run at Indian Wells, where a final showdown against Djokovic will hopefully bring them closer to finding out who 'N' really is.