Edgar Su won the top prize at the World Sports Photography Awards 2026 with this photograph of Carlos Alcaraz in full action. Amateur Photographer, in its January 27, 2026 issue, reports the award and reproduces the image.

The photograph is titled Carlos’ Shadow Hits a Ball and was taken during an actual match. One could easily swear it was shot in a studio, so precise is it that it unsettles. It corresponds to the fourth match between Alcaraz and Jack Draper at the Australian Open in Melbourne.

The athlete’s pose appears wholly unreal. It seems conceived for the cover of a video game. The lines of force traced by his posture turn the composition into a field of dynamic tension and articulate it with precision within the photographic space. An impeccable arc extends from the racket to his outstretched right leg. Much of its plastic grace resides there.

The left leg contains the violence, gathers it into an almost sculptural solidity only to release it in the next instant. It sustains the gracefulness of the gesture.

What astonishes most lies in the visual conjunction between the shoes and the ball. The final stroke is the ball poised upon the shadow of the racket. The elements are so tightly interwoven that they seem the outcome of 2,500 years of evolution, of trial and error.

Alcaraz’s body also operates as a sign of projection. Each segment—open legs, torso in rotation, extended arm—signals direction, energy, anticipation. Speed is projected from form itself. The shadow doubles the sign and renders it abstract.

Its immediate reference is the sculpture of the Greek Classical period. Not the repose of the Doryphoros, but unstable equilibrium. The body describes a dynamic contrapposto. It concentrates weight along the axis while releasing the rest into response. As in Hellenic statuary, beauty lies not only in proportion but in the intelligibility of movement and, above all, in the celebration of the body as the rational measure of the world.

Another way of seeing it emerges when attending to its implicit geometry. If one were to plot mathematical points across the figure—from the supporting foot to the wrist—a chain of angles would appear, projecting a geometric function: an unpredictable body, like a polygon in random expansion. The shadow, meanwhile, shifts from sustaining three-dimensionality to participating in a mathematical operation that generates a Euclidean figure.

Few images justify an award with such clarity. The work of disproportionate talent, or of chance? That question is not especially complex. The one that is, for me—who knows little of racket blows—is another: is the ball coming or going?

Marginal Notes, in Order of Relevance

Su is a professional photographer who works for Reuters. Born and educated in Singapore, he began by photographing architecture. He explored various genres in his early years before his career evolved toward photojournalism and documentary practice, covering global news and events. His more-than-probable resolve and methodical patience will have allowed him to become a senior Reuters photographer, documenting natural disasters and sport alike. His trajectory was already well established before the award.

The World Sports Photography Awards are sponsored by Canon. In this edition, 4,120 photographers from 123 countries participated, and 23,130 images were evaluated.