Carlos Alcaraz once again showed how much respect he has for American legend Andre Agassi during his first round match against Li Tu at the US Open 2024. Alcaraz not only paid an epic tribute to Agassi but also turned back the clock by wearing a pair of shoes which he made famous in the 90s at the US Open.
Alcaraz was spotted in the Nike Air Tech Challenge 2 ‘Hot Lava’. The Air Tech Challenge 2 was curated specially for Agassi by Nike, which established him as the most marketable American men’s tennis player at the time.
The young Spaniard’s special footwear was quickly spotted by Agassi, who shared a picture of Alcaraz on his Instagram stories and added an emoji of eyes near the shoes. Alcaraz reposted the story on his profile and added eyes, shoe, handshake and hearted eyes emojis to describe how surreal it was for him to wear the shoes synonymous with the legend himself.
Agassi also shared a close-up image on his story, in which shoes can be seen clearly and added the text ‘Vamos’ to it, giving his best wishes to the Spaniard for the last Slam of the year. Alcaraz again reshared the story on his own profile.
Carlos Alcaraz wore Agassi’s famous Nike Air Tech Challenge 2 ‘Hot Lava’ for his first-round clash. pic.twitter.com/TNpI5jBrwu
— TennisWorld (@TennisWorl65157) August 28, 2024
Another reason behind Alcaraz wearing those shoes was to create buzz around the upcoming drop of an ‘aged Hot Lava’ colored version of the shoe. The brand is all set to launch the latest edition of the shoes on August 30.
It shows the impact Agassi has on the sport and on the current generation. His fashion and style statements have been hard to forget over the years as many of his decisions were considered daring at the time and yet they were loved by millions.
Andre Agassi’s fashion statements
Agassi’s outfits always represented his playing style, which was unorthodox as he put on bright colors and patterns instead of toned-down colors and plain clothing. He was always a rebel, challenging tennis traditions as he put on ‘jorts’ (jean shorts) instead of the common tennis shorts at the US Open. It was also one of his favorite pairs of clothing from the time he played.
Agassi, in a recent conversation with US Open, said that he felt ‘better’ whenever he put them on and added:
“I associated them with rebellion, with expanding the game, changing the game, not from a healthy place necessarily, more from my kind of psyche and demons, but the shorts I would go there.”
Apart from Agassi, Alcaraz’s look in the opening-round clash also paid tribute to his idol and fellow Spaniard Rafael Nadal. Appearing in a black Nike sleeveless singlet, Alcaraz completely resembled the 22-time Grand Slam champion, who wore a black singlet while winning the US Open 2019.
It will be interesting to see what the young prodigy brings to the court in the upcoming rounds. Will Alcaraz become the next Agassi? Time will tell, but the signs look promising.
