Martina Navratilova declared earlier this year that 19 year old Carlos Alcaraz was superior to World No. 1 and winner of 20 Grand Slam titles Novak Djokovic. She said Alcaraz was her pick to win the French Open and Wimbledon.
Of course those predictions by Martina were colossal busts as Alcaraz was not a factor at either Grand Slam and he still has not reached a major quarterfinal. But the agenda was evident – the tennis establishment is eager to manufacture Alcaraz as a new superstar attraction, to sell tickets, woo sponsors and excite the fans and media.
Creating superstars has been a business process of the ATP and WTA for decades. As far back as the 1990’s we saw the mad rush to appoint Jennifer Capriati as a superstar Grand Slam champion.
Steffi Graf’s agent Phil de Picciotto saw the folly and harm of burdening a young tennis player with such grand expectations. “You’ve got to let everyone develop at their own pace and build whatever stardom there is on a base of reality,” de Picciotto told Tennis Magazine in the 1994 February issue. “You can’t create the image first because reality, in most cases, is going to conflict with the image.”
Of course, it’s well documented Capriati’s career and personal life crashed due to the demands, pressures and expectations of the tennis industry. And it’s unknown how her career and life would have evolved without having to live up to the impossible standards the tennis industry designated for her to attain.
de Picciotto added, “In my opinion that’s what happened to Jennifer Capriati. She’s a very nice kid, the American heir apparent to Chris Evert. But she wasn’t what she was made out to be before she hit her first tennis ball. And it wasn’t fair for her to have to try to live up to the image that was created for her.”
The same thing is happening to Alcaraz now. All the silly excessive hype about how Alcaraz is already better than Djokovic, did not do him any favors. In fact, it may have been a severe hindrance, or even inflicted irreparable damage.
Now everywhere Alcaraz goes, he’s the superstar kid who is expected to break Grand Slam records, when the reality is he’s not even come close to winning one Grand Slam title yet.
Why does this happen? Why does the tennis establishment rush to create new superstars instead of letting it happen naturally?
The answer: Greed.
Arthur Ashe · Carlos Alcaraz · Jennifer Capriati · US Open
George · August 22, 2022 at 8:05 pm
“instead of letting it happen naturally?”
He is number 4 in the world at 19 years old. It is happening.
Scoop Malinowski · August 22, 2022 at 9:16 pm
George, No doubt Carlito is a prodigy but the excessive hype and Navratilova saying things like he’s already better than Novak was going way overboard. She also tabbed him as the favorite to win FO and Wimb this year. Great champions never do that, they always take the patient approach.
George · August 22, 2022 at 10:28 pm
Who cares what Navratilova says? He cannot control what others say. No one can.
Sampras won the US Open at 19. Other players may have taken longer. Rios was ranked number one without a grand slam victory, but still had a stellar career.
Everyone has a different journey in life. But reaching number 4 on the world is pretty damn good at any age.
Matt Segel · August 22, 2022 at 10:36 pm
I would say a very good example of this is Sasha Zverev. He was a favourite at grand slams before he got to the fourth round and I think his career has obviously not lived up to the hype, but it’s odd because I think he could have been an all time great based on talent and natural ability.
I think fans are just as guilty as I get excited for the next great player and read articles about the player and then get disappointed when they fail.
Then the’fun’s becomes what is the flaw that holds them back.
That’s part of the fun of being a fan, critically analyzing these super talented stars because I don’t have any where close to their ability.
Double faults seem to be a good indicator of whether a young gun is cracking.
Scoop Malinowski · August 23, 2022 at 8:25 am
George, it was not just Navratilova said, the entire media establishment was singing Alcaraz as the new king. I can’t remember what everyone said but they all got carried away and then Alcaraz underperformed at RG and Wimb and hasn’t won since Miami. He’s even had some bad losses. So all the hype after spring didn’t do him any favors. Surely he will snap out of the funk he’s in and eventually will shock the world.
Scoop Malinowski · August 23, 2022 at 8:31 am
Matt, Yes Zverev was the golden boy as far back as age 15 he was already famous, Kozlov too. (Kozlov will play his first US Open main draw net week BTW.) Zverev was very successful at a young age but I never got the feeling the tennis establishment wanted him to be the poster boy for the sport. He did do that south american tour for millions with federer several years back but then fired Federer’s team 8 as his management team in Jan 2021 and has been on the outside looking in ever since. Now it seems Felix is the one the establishment wants to be the next face of the sport, or Fritz.
Scoop Malinowski · August 23, 2022 at 10:15 am
The worst question by a tennis reporter in sports history… https://awfulannouncing.com/tennis/bill-simons-14-years-serena-williams-terrible-question.html