Former ATP doubles No. 1 Paul McNamee recently shared his thoughts in the wake of Carlos Alcaraz getting all the spotlight before Wimbledon.
Alcaraz was featured on the cover of the Sunday Times magazine, which was released on June 30th with the title "KING CARLOS" and a snippet on the front page referring to the 21-year-old as the "saviour of tennis."
The Spaniard sat for an extensive interview with the magazine ahead of his title defense and revealed that he currently lives with his family and is not actively dating because it's challenging to do so as a traveling tennis pro.
"I live with my mum and dad, my older brother and two younger brothers. To them I am not a big tennis star, just a normal guy."
McNamee took issue with the magazine's front page, especially given its timing of release. The four-time Grand Slam doubles champion opined that it is "disrespectful" to promote Alcaraz as "saviour" when Jannik Sinner and Novak Djokovic are both ranked higher than him.
"On the eve of Wimbledon, and albeit I am a massive Alcaraz fan, this is disrespectful to the two guys who are seeded above him… Jannick Sinner & Novak Djokovic, as well as women’s tennis."
Alcaaz is the number three seed at the 2024 Wimbledon Championships, where he is the defending champion. He opened play on Centre Court on Monday with a hard-fought straight-sets win over Estonian qualifier Mark Lajal.
Sinner also won on the same day, although he needed four sets to beat Germany's Yannick Hanfmann on Court 1. Alcaraz has been drawn in the same half as the Italian World No. 1 and can meet in the semifinal if they both advance that far.
Djokovic, meanwhile, is in the bottom half of the draw and is the number two seed. He has recovered from knee surgery and will play Czech qualifier Vit Kopriva in the first round on Tuesday afternoon.