Since 2015, global giant shoe company Nike has had ace tennis player Carlos Alcaraz as its brand ambassador. In 2020, Alcaraz signed a deal with Nike that will pay him $1 million per year till 2025. This is a major financial bonus to Alcaraz’s career, whose father once had to give up on tennis due to poor finances.
It will also form a huge portion of the Carlos Alcaraz net worth, which is estimated to be around $20 million USD as per multiple media reports. A guaranteed $5 million from Nike will go into Alcaraz’s account. This is on top of the several perks and benefits he is receiving from the global shoe giant.
That includes the clothing, the shoes, and the other accessories Alcaraz will get for as long as he is associated with the brand. If things go right, Carlos Alcaraz’s Nike deal can surpass any other tennis player deal in history.
Nike could be playing the waiting game with Alcaraz, which has previously reaped them in benefits. They did it with Michael Jordan for years, before launching the vintage Air Jordan line of shoes. They did the same with the Rafael Nadal line of shoes and Roger Federer became the flag-bearer of the Nike Vapor shoes at one point in time.
The Nike Air Zoom Vapor Speed first launched itself in the tennis scene in 2004. But those lines of Nike shoes became synonymous with Roger Federer for a long time. They plan to do the same with Carlos Alcaraz.
Rafael Nadal’s association with Nike is still big and remains largely looming over any other tennis player. However, Alcaraz is only 20 years old and Nadal is 37, and therefore in time with Nadal’s retirement, Nike might hedge their biggest bet on the 20-year-old Spaniard. Going by some of the ads he did for them, some would say Nike already is betting largely on Alcaraz.
What is Carlos Alcaraz’s prize money and earnings and what role does Nike play in it?
Carlos Alcaraz’s prize money earnings from tennis is above $27 million to date. As of August 2022, London Evening Standard reported that Alcaraz earned $5.9 million on court and $5 million off court.
Given it is 2024, Nike has already paid $4 million per the new deal to Alcaraz. And for the 5 years before that i.e. 2015-2020, Nike’s exact deal with Alcaraz is not known. But given that it must’ve amounted to a substantial amount, it is fair to say Nike amounts to nearly 25% of Carlos Alcaraz’s net worth, if not more.
