Carlos Alcaraz calls Donald Trump’s US Open return ‘great for tennis’

Carlos Alcaraz said Donald Trump’s presence at the US Open final will be “great for tennis” as the US president prepares to attend his first match at Flushing Meadows in a decade.

The 22-year-old Spaniard reached Sunday’s final by beating Novak Djokovic in straight sets on Friday afternoon at Arthur Ashe Stadium. He will face either defending champion Jannik Sinner or Canada’s Félix Auger-Aliassime for a sixth grand slam title and a third in New York.

Alcaraz gave a positive response when asked about Trump’s planned appearance at the final.

“I think that it is a privilege for the tournaments having the president from every country just to support the tournament, to support tennis, and to support the match,” he said. “For me, playing in front of him … I will try not to think about it. I don’t want myself to be nervous because of it, but I think attending the tennis match, it’s great for tennis to have the president at the final.”

The United States Tennis Association said on Friday that Trump would be a guest in a corporate suite inside Ashe.

Trump was once a fixture in the US Open crowd before launching his political career. The Trump Organization even maintained a suite adjacent to the broadcast booth, but gave it up in 2017 during his first year in the White House.

The president has been making a series of high-profile sporting appearances this year. He has attended the Super Bowl in New Orleans, the Daytona 500 in Florida, UFC cards in Miami and Newark, the NCAA wrestling championships in Philadelphia and July’s Fifa Club World Cup final in New Jersey, where he made headlines by crashing Chelsea’s trophy ceremony.

While Barack and Michelle Obama appeared on opening night of the US Open in 2023, Trump’s return on Sunday will mark the first by a sitting president in 25 years, when Bill Clinton took in the women’s final in 2000.

Alcaraz, who first won the US Open as a teenager in 2022, has become the first man to reach the tournament’s final without dropping a set since Roger Federer in 2015. He said Friday that not even Trump’s presence, which ensures the match will carry political theatre unusual even for New York’s grand slam, will distract him from his goal.

“It’s great for tennis,” Alcaraz said. “But on Sunday, my job is to play my best tennis and not let anything else get in the way.”

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