Carlos Alcaraz completed a topsy-turvy 2023 season by making it to the semifinals of the ATP Finals 2023 for the first time in his career. Following his loss to World No.1 and eventual winner, Novak Djokovic, it has again made many compare the 20-year-old Spaniard to his legendary countryman, Rafael Nadal. Back in 2006 at the age of 20, Nadal also made his first semifinal appearance at the tournament which was then known as the Tennis Masters Cup, only to lose to the best player in the world and the winner, Roger Federer.
In 2006, Nadal finished second to Federer in the year-end rankings and this year, it would be the same in the sense of Alcaraz coming second best to Djokovic. Remarkably, there are more similarities between the 2006 Rafael Nadal season and the 2023 Carlos Alcaraz season, which would make their prize money readings perhaps very fascinating. Despite some roadblocks, Carlos Alcaraz has taken home an impressive $10,762,931 in 2023. While the 20-year-old Rafael Nadal had ended up earning $3,732,760 17 years ago.
Percentage wise, Alcaraz’s earnings is 188.47% more than Nadal’s or in simpler terms, nearly 1.9 times more than the 22-time Grand Slam champion. Now that is quite understandable since back in 2006, the prize money in tennis had just started increasing exponentially in most tournaments for players, coupled with the impact of a strong US dollar as well as a rising Euro. If Rafael Nadal is considered first up and just the 5 titles he won that year, these are the final earnings of his –
1) Dubai Tennis Championships ATP 300 – $187,500
2) Monte Carlo ATP 1000 Masters – $400,000
3) Barcelona Open ATP 500 – $153,000
4) Rome Masters ATP 1000 – $400,000
5) French Open – $1,196,700
That adds up to $2,337,200. The other main earnings for Rafael Nadal came from making it to the Wimbledon finals ($595,360), US Open quarterfinals ($140,000) and the ATP Finals semifinals ($330,000). Nadal could not replicate the blockbuster 2005 season he had, in which he won 11 ATP titles but his prize money earnings as compared to 2006 were just $100,000 greater.
Just like Rafael Nadal, Carlos Alcaraz was consistent enough in Grand Slams to take the big bucks home. Alcaraz won 6 titles in 2023, again being eerily similar to his idol’s season at the same age, which included one major title. The numbers coming up of the new face of tennis and his title wins this year are again gobsmacking if the comparisons are extended –
1) Argentina Open ATP 250 – $95,305
2) Indian Wells ATP 1000 Masters – $1,262,220
3) Barcelona Open ATP 500 – $525,321
4) Madrid Masters ATP 1000 Masters – $1,262,220
5) Queens ATP 500 – $516,658
6) Wimbledon – $2,350,000
Uptil Madrid, the pattern was going parallel virtually. And in Grand Slams too, like Nadal had missed the Australian Open in 2006, Alcaraz also could not participate this year. But he did cover up with a semifinal appearance at the French Open (worth a $683,698 payday), another semifinal at the US Open ($775,000) and yet again the last four of the ATP Finals ($1,120,000). In what is a mother of all co-incidences, both the players participated in 17 tournaments each in these respective seasons and slowed down a lot after their US Open campaigns.
How Carlos Alcaraz of 2023 is just about better than Rafael Nadal of 2006
Comparing both their big winnings, the ATP in 2023 increased the prize money of their Masters 1000 competitions by 3.15 times vis-a-vis 2006. And the Barcelona Open is today worth 3.43 times more too. But the difference where Carlos Alcaraz slightly edged ahead of the 2006 Rafael Nadal is his performances in tournaments where he did not win big.
Alcaraz took home more because of also making it to the finals in Cincinnati, semifinals in Miami and Beijing as well as the Rogers Cup quarterfinals. all of which are massive competitions in the calendar till date. The only tournaments where he missed out making the most of were Rome Masters and most recently, in Shanghai and Paris Masters.
But the same cannot be said of the then Rafael Nadal. Being a clay court specialist in those days, Nadal could only make it to the quarterfinals in Queen’s ATP 500 and the ATP 1000 Masters of Cincinnati and Madrid each respectively. While he was knocked out in Round of 16 of the Rogers Cup and Round of 64 at the Stockholm ATP 250 Open.
On the other hand, while Rafael Nadal won 4 out of his 5 titles on clay, Carlos Alcaraz won 3 out of his 6 titles on the surface. His other 2 came on grass, which was supposed to be his bogey surface. While his Indian Wells one earlier this year came on a hard court, making him more versatile at the same age and stage of their careers.
Even if Rafael Nadal’s 2006 earnings were adjusted for US inflation today, it would have approximately been still $5.6 million, which is again ironically 1.9 times lesser than Carlos Alcaraz. Perhaps, Alcaraz is blessed to be in a generation where tennis prize money and the US dollar is in favor of him and the fact that he could learn from Nadal and his competitors such as Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic to develop such a game at the age of 20.
However, there is no doubt that after Federer, Nadal led the way in prize money earnings, which Djokovic carried forward up to today. With more sponsors backing the sport and increased participation fees, there could come a day in a few years time when Alcaraz could overtake Nadal’s tally of $134.64 million in career winnings.
