Many have predicted that Carlos Alcaraz will be tennis’ flagship star for the next decade and beyond, and his place on Sports Illustrated’s list of the most influential figures in 2024 shows his stardom.
Alcaraz is already a four-time Grand Slam champion, aged just 21. Some, including John McEnroe, consider him the most complete player at such a young age that the sport has ever seen.
For the first time in 2024, he won two Grand Slams during the same season, the French Open and Wimbledon, including dismantling Novak Djokovic in straight sets in what was one of his heaviest defeats at a major final.
However, it is not just Alcaraz’s results that make him such a popular figure. He also plays tennis in a unique way that has brought several new fans to the sport, drawing comparisons to other iconic names in the sport.
Most modern players solely focus on hitting from the baseline with a similar amount of speed and pace on each shot. While matches with that style can still be entertaining, there is a lot of repetition.
By contrast, Alcaraz’s variety is unmatched. He comes to the net, slices, sometimes hits with heavy topspin, and produces outrageous winners that leave spectators and opponents stunned.
His style is compared to Roger Federer’s. Alcaraz recently recounted meeting Federer, who he will regularly see at the ongoing Laver Cup. Federer also said he wanted to apologize for refusing a training session with him.
The Spaniard is also known for smiling a lot during his matches. Many players are told to stay rigidly focused and not get caught up in how much they love being on the court, but Alcaraz does not follow that conventional wisdom.
Those qualities mean Alcaraz is starting to transcend tennis. That has been shown by the former world No. 1’s place on Sports Illustrated’s 2024 list of sports figures, which featured no other tennis stars.
Sports Illustrated paid tribute to Alcaraz in its list by saying he was a combination of Federer, Djokovic, and Rafael Nadal, who are widely considered the three greatest players to have ever played tennis.
“The tennis analysis—reductive, but true—is that he is the cartoon combination of the Big Three, marrying Federer’s native talent and stylish shotmaking with Nadal’s Spanish provenance and on-court persistence while mixing in some of Djokovic’s absence of weakness.”
There is undoubtedly some truth to that analysis. Alcaraz could replicate or improve the achievements of those three if he keeps working hard, although it is possible to be certain at this early stage of his career.
Some might think no other tennis players featuring is harsh. Although Alcaraz’s season has been excellent, World No. 1 Jannik Sinner’s season has been even better, winning two Grand Slams and more titles overall than Alcaraz.
The Italian’s doping scandal might have cost him a place on the list despite Sinner being cleared of wrongdoing. Novak Djokovic was another candidate for inclusion after winning Olympic gold in Paris, but the rest of his season has been underwhelming.
