“King Carlos” should be number two, not one

For years, the tennis hype machine has been pushing rising stars to take over from Roger Federer, Rafa Nadal and Novak Djokovic. 

Grigor “Baby Fed” Dimitrov was going to be the next Federer. Milos Raonic was the second coming of Pete Sampras. Borna Coric was the new Djokovic. Denis Shapovalov was the new Nadal (who was the new John McEnroe, who had been the new Rod Laver). Stefanos Tsitsipas (the next, next Federer) was going to dominate on grass. Daniil Medvedev was going to take over from Djokovic on hardcourt. Kei Nishikori, Francis Tiafoe and Felix Auger-Aliassime were going to conquer a sport long ruled by white men. 

Alas, they couldn’t do it. Federer, Nadal and Djokovic kept beating Father Time on their way to championships. This created a marketing problem across an industry that loves throwing money at youth with potential. How can we hype these teen phenoms if they can’t beat the Old Guys? 

The ATP tried to tackle this by creating the “Next Gen” tournament that specifically excluded the Old Guys. They even changed the rules and the scoring system, seemingly to please younger people with allegedly short attention spans (who nevertheless binge on Netflix). But all the hype about the “Young Guns” still didn’t capture the majority of tennis fans, who still wanted to see Djokovic, Federer and Nadal holding the trophies. 

Finally, the ATP found a way to make room for a new number one. Ostensibly, they voted to remove all ranking points from Wimbledon 2022 to protest against Wimbledon banning players from Russia and Belarus. This effectively stripped Alcaraz of 180 points and Djokovic of his 2000 points, which would have been enough to keep him number one going into this year’s tournament. 

As a result, Carlos Alcaraz (the most hyped phenom since Nadal) goes into The Championships at Wimbledon ranked number one after beating #26 Dimitrov, #32 Seb Korda and #18 Alex De Minaur to win at Queen’s, his first title on grass.

Never mind that Djokovic hasn’t lost at Wimbledon since 2017, or that he just won his third French Open to steam clear ahead of Nadal and Federer in the slam title race. TV announcers are telling us that “all eyes will be on Alcaraz at Wimbledon”. “KING CARLOS!” tweeted Tennis TV after Sunday’s final in London. 

They are conveniently ignoring factual reality that Djokovic has 23 slams; Alcaraz has 1 (by winning the US Open while Djokovic was banned from entering the country.) 

Djokovic also just beat Alcaraz at Roland Garros. Alcaraz admitted he couldn’t handle the pressure. After cramping early in the third, he couldn’t even put up a fight in the last two sets of a semi-final. Is that normal for the “King of Tennis” who is supposed to break all those records set by Federer, Nadal and Djokovic? 

I don’t remember Federer collapsing under pressure when he won Wimbledon in 2003. Nadal, at his very first French Open in 2005, won the title. Djokovic overcame more adversity and negative press than perhaps any champion in history. From start to finish, they earned their place atop the tennis world. The ATP didn’t rig the system to hand it to them. 

Fans saw the truth. They were right. Federer and Nadal would become the most popular tennis players of all-time. Djokovic would shatter almost every record and become the greatest tennis player of all time, and perhaps even the greatest sportsman of all time. 

Now along comes Carlos Alcaraz. Fans can’t help but love Alcaraz. I like him too. He’s the most exciting player of his generation. He’s an awe-inspiring shotmaker. He’s incredibly fast. He repeatedly shows admirable sportsmanship on court. He’s polite and humble with the press. But he doesn’t deserve to be seeded number one at Wimbledon. He shouldn’t be ranked number one. He’s not the best men’s player in the world. He knows it. Everybody knows it. 

The ATP and Wimbledon should recognize this. They are doing more harm than good by putting unfair pressure on young Carlitos. I actually think Carlitos would feel relieved if he comes into the AELTC seeded number two behind defending champion Djokovic. He will have a better chance of success as the underdog, not the front-runner. 

If the tennis industry really wants Alcaraz to be the new number one, they should make him number two.  

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