World No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz On Michael Jordan & The NBA

World No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz is slowly becoming an NBA fan and wore a black Air Jordan hoodie and a Jordan Brand hat into his U.S. Open press conference on Friday.

Alcaraz, 20, has been sponsored by Nike
NKE
since he was 17 and also has deals with Rolex, BMW and Babalot, among others.

“Well, I started to follow the NBA not too far ago,” he said. “Obviously I hear a lot about basketball, about NBA. I didn’t watch it so much.

“Obviously I’ve watched a lot of videos. Everybody knows Michael, what he did to the game. He was something unbelievable. I huge fan of him, huge fan of his clothes as well, as you can see.”

Alcaraz, the reigning U.S. Open and Wimbledon champion, was asked if he wanted to weigh in on the G.O.A.T. debate in basketball and whether Jordan was it.

“I’m not going to talk about the G.O.A.T.,” he said with a smile. “Is not a doubt that he’s one of those.”

Alcaraz is also developing a friendship with Miami Heat star Jimmy Butler, who served as a ball boy during an exhibition match this week with Alcaraz and Frances Tiafoe at the Open that raised $320,000 for Ukraine humanitarian relief.

“I started to know him like one year ago, to have a close relationship that is pretty well,” Alcaraz said of Butler.

“He’s a really huge fan of tennis, as well. He try to play. I think it’s great for tennis, as well, to have Jimmy coming to a tournaments and supporting us. It’s great.

“Talking about me to have him supporting me, a great athlete, NBA star, so it’s for me almost crazy to have a good relationship with someone like Jimmy.”

As for the Open, Alcaraz is seeking to become the first man since Roger Federer (2004-8) to defend a U.S. Open title. He has a tough road with a potential matchup with Alexander Zverev or Jannik Sinner in the quarterfinals and then possibly 2021 champion Daniil Medvedev in the semis before a potential showdown with No. 2 Novak Djokovic in the final. That would be a rematch of the Wimbledon final won by Alcaraz in five sets, and also the Cincinnati final captured by Djokovic last Sunday in an epic best-of-3 contest.

Asked if he would feel the pressure of trying to defend, Alcaraz said: “Probably, but I try not to think about that. This week, this practice week, I try to do exactly the same thing that I did last year, trying to practice the same way that I’m going to play, and focus on that.

“I’m not going to focus on being the defending champion, the [ranking] points, whatever. I’m just going to focus on showing my best level, try to improve in every practice, and let’s see.”