Five days before his Wimbledon 2023 debut, Louis Vuitton announced that Carlos Alcaraz is its new ambassador. The 20-year-old tennis player from Murcia, number one in the ATP, has joined an exclusive club that also includes Zendaya, BTS member J-Hope or Lionel Messi. All are leaders in their own right. Everyone at least six years older than him.
He’s not the only young tennis player linked to luxury brands. Holger Rune, Dane, 21 years old, number six in the world, is the spitting image of Armani. And Jannik Sinner, an Italian of the same age and number eight in the ATP, marked a small milestone in the history of this sport yesterday. He arrived at Wimbledon’s Center Court for his game against Argentina’s Cerundolo with a personalized Gucci bag engraved with his initials. According to the Italian brand, it was the first time a tennis player was entitled to take a luxury bag with the logo onto the court. And also at the most traditional Grand Slam, the four most important tournaments in the annual calendar. These are the Australian Open (Melbourne); Roland Garros, (Paris); the US Open (New York) and Wimbledon (London). The latter, which started yesterday, still has an old rule from the 19th century that obliges players to wear white consistently, even in training. A rule so outdated that until this year tennis players were required to wear white underwear.
Danish tennis player Holger Rune dressed by Giorgio Armani at the Mutua Open 2023 in Madrid photographed for the June issue of ICON.Pablo Zamora
It’s a real novelty in tennis. The stars of the NBA, football and Formula 1 have long turned their appearances into fashion catwalks, but until now tennis courts have been the exclusive territory for sports brands that sponsor players. The closest anyone can get is Casper Ruud as a Samsonite ambassador, but the sleek Gucci bag bears little resemblance to the lime-hued suitcase the 24-year-old Norwegian, world number four, is promoting.
Nothing was improvised. Crafted from canvas with leather trims, detachable straps and hidden water bottle pockets inside, the bag has been designed not to break any rule in the 106-page book that governs every detail of the Grand Slams. Including those that limit the size, placement and number of logos on the sleeves, collars, hats, headbands, socks and of course the gear pockets.
Until now, luxury has not been common in tennis, apart from a few watch brands (Rolex not only sponsors tennis players like Federer or Alcaraz itself, but also the most important competitions). But tennis’ relationship with the big apparel companies isn’t new. Adidas made their Stan Smith one of their most popular models in 1978. To the point that the tennis player, 1972 Wimbledon champion, declared with a touch of bitterness: “A lot of people think of me as just a pair of tennis shoes.” Rafa Nadal is linked to Emporio Armani and Tommy Hilfiger; Djokovic to Lacoste and Federer had a lucrative deal with Uniqlo but Alcaraz seems destined to trump them.
Carlos Alcaraz is the new ambassador for the fashion brand Louis Vuitton. “I felt like it was a perfect relationship,” Alcaraz said in a statement, explaining that he wants to learn more about the world of fashion.
Carlos Alcaraz, Holger Rune and Jannik Sinner are finally the trio that could replace the official gold trio: Novak Djokovic, Rafa Nadal and Roger Federer, three stars who extended their dominance of the courts by many more years than expected. It took a player with charisma to spearhead the renewal and the Murcian’s appearance was a stroke of luck. His style of play and character breathed new life into tennis and led to a generational change. Today in the top ten only Djokovic (36) is over 30 and Medvedev (27) is 25. The rest are younger. They are elegant players, both physically and technically, well-travelled, polyglot and well advised. Alcaraz manager Albert Molina is credited as the person directing his steps in terms of sponsorships. There is no Agassi, no Connors or McEnroe, rebellious and sometimes unimaginable. The most similar, unpredictable Australian Nick Kyrgios, has plummeted to No. 33 at the age of 28. They’re not even aesthetically rebellious. They are closer to the classic elegance of Federer than the young Nadal in capris and tank tops.
A far cry from footballers and their tattoos but increasingly well-known, this new squad of sleek players with no eccentricities has a penchant for luxury and is now returning to a quieter aesthetic than it has been in the last five years. Something that was summed up in a brief paragraph in the Louis Vuitton statement that introduced Alcaraz as the new ambassador: “With the same philosophy of dedication and excellence that characterizes Louis Vuitton, Carlos continues to raise the bar in tennis . His attractiveness and style have won him fans inside and outside of the sport who will surely look forward to following him on this new adventure.” As Vanessa Friedman wrote in the New York Times, “After all, what’s a brand if not a set of values embodied in a name, a logo or an object?” It is a symbol that represents a legacy, a know-how. Or excellence, aspiration, power, grace and activism: All these concepts accompany athletes. And sometimes to bags too. Or a pair of slippers.”
At the institutional level, too, interest in the sport from luxury brands has skyrocketed. An example: Since 1994, a week before Wimbledon, there has been an exhibition tournament on grass at the Hurlingham Club in London. In 2022, Giorgio Armani replaced BNP Paribas as title sponsor. Since then it has been known as the Giorgio Armani Tennis Classic.