(Bloomberg Businessweek) -- Last Thursday evening, four days before the opening round of the US Open Tennis Championship, Carlos Alcaraz spent a few minutes playing pickleball in a ballroom of the Lotte New York Palace in Midtown Manhattan. The 20-year-old Spaniard and current world No. 1 in men's tennis was one of six players on hand (along with Venus Williams, Ons Jabeur, Holger Rune, Andrey Rublev and Tommy Paul) for the Palace Invitational, an annual promotional event hosted by the hotel where a few dozen guests and VIPs get to rub shoulders with pros ahead of the Open.
It was the first time for Alcaraz, who's vaulted to the top of the men's game over the past 12 months after winning his first Grand Slam at last year's US Open and his second at Wimbledon in July. When Alcaraz entered the bar during the pre-pickleball cocktail hour, he could not get a step without being stopped for a selfie, while Rune, the 20-year-old Dane ranked No. 4 in the world, slipped past practically unnoticed. Alcaraz, in this room at least, was the player people had been waiting to see.
For the past two decades professional tennis has been dominated on the men's side by three generational talents. Since Roger Federer won his first Wimbledon championship in 2003, he, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic have taken 65 of the 80 available Grand Slam singles titles. (During one stretch from 2005 to 2012, the trio won 29 of 30.) Their pas de trois has been great for the sport. Each pushed the others to greater heights and offered fans a different type of champion: Federer won with feathery groundstrokes; Nadal with relentless ball pursuit and a buggy whip forehand; and Djokovic with the game's most lethal backhand.
But with Federer, 42, retired since last year, Nadal, 37, rehabbing an injury and likely to retire next year, and Djokovic, 36, entering his twilight years, the big question in men's tennis has been: Who's got next? Would anyone step in to fill the void that they leave—or would the men's game become as wide open and unpredictable as the women's since the retirement of Serena Williams? By defeating Djokovic at Wimbledon in a five-set, almost five-hour final, Alcaraz made a strong case for himself as the heir apparent. After the match, Djokovic said that the young Spaniard combined the best elements of his own game with those of Nadal and Federer. “I think he's got basically the best of all three worlds,” said Djokovic.
With that otherworldly combination, Alcaraz stands to become one of the wealthiest athletes on the planet. Five of the 50 highest-earning athletes of all time, according to estimates by Sportico, are tennis players. Four of those five are men, and one, Federer, is part of a select group of 15 athletes with career earnings of $1 billion or more—including off-field pay. If Alcaraz can dominate the sport over the next decade or more, a big if, he will almost certainly join the ranks of billionaire athletes.
“The ceiling is unlimited,” says Bob Dorfman, a sports marketing analyst at Pinnacle Advertising. On the court, Alcaraz has already earned more than $20 million in prize money. Off it, he's worked with Nike, Calvin Klein, BMW and Rolex, among others. After he defeated Djokovic at Wimbledon, Nike shared its new slogan for Alcaraz online: “Don't belong to an era. Start your own.” It's only the beginning for Alcaraz's endorsement portfolio. “He could cover everything from video games to automotive to fashion to health care,” says Dorfman.
There are, of course, caveats. To fully capitalize on his potential, Alcaraz will need to stay healthy and keep winning. This year's Open is an opportunity to show that his coronation as the new king of men's tennis hasn't been hasty. There are worthy rivals for the throne, including Rune. And Djokovic, who defeated Alcaraz in Cincinnati after Wimbledon, has shown no signs of planning to go quietly.
Alcaraz will also need to continue to improve his English and his skills in front of the camera. The biggest tennis stars don't just have signature shoes, they have signature personalities. Federer is known for class and elegance. John McEnroe, who remains a household name decades after his last competitive match, made his name as a brash American.
“You need something that sets you apart from everybody else,” says Dorfman. “Alcaraz is kind of dull at this point.” At the pickleball exhibition in New York, he said only four words to the crowd before he and Williams took to the court to play for three minutes against Jabeur and Paul: “I guess I'm ready.”
More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com
©2023 Bloomberg L.P.
Essential Business Intelligence, Sharp Market Insights, Practical Personal Finance Advice, Daily Fuel, Gold and Silver Prices and Latest Stories — On NDTV Profit.