Carlos Alcaraz Among Players Affected By Shocking Rio Open Data Leak
News
A Brazilian journalist has stunningly revealed that he obtained access to the personal information of several players, including Carlos Alcaraz, after a leak by the Rio Open Organization and the city's government.
Alcaraz did not play at the 2025 Rio Open, opting instead to appear on hard courts at the 2025 Qatar Open. He lost to Jiri Lehecka in the quarterfinal after an inspired performance by the Czech throughout the match.
Despite not competing in Rio this year, organizers of the tournament gained some personal information from Alcaraz and many other players from their previous appearances at the event, meaning it should be managed carefully.
Instead, journalist Demtrio Vecchioli revealed on X (formerly Twitter) that he gained information about Alcaraz, teenage prodigy and Brazilian Joao Fonseca, whose passport photo the journalist posted, as well as other notable players.
"This is João Fonseca's photo in his passport, issued in October 2020. How do I know something so personal? This is one of the many personal data leaked by the Rio Open organization and the RJ government."
"There is Joao's WhatsApp, Alcaraz's WhatsApp (who replied to me), images of documents with all the information that may be necessary for fraud, residential address. And not just them, but Thiem, Musetti, Melo, Monteiro, etc, etc, etc."
The story gets even worse for the Rio Open organizers and the city's government. Vecchioli found the information about those players by searching on one of the Rio government's platforms, meaning anyone could have discovered it.
"And it wasn't hidden. I found it just by searching for the name of one of them on the Rio government's transparency platform. Anyone could have found it. Before publishing the article in the first comment, I warned RJ and Rio Open to take it down, which has already been done."
Fortunately, Vecchioli has some ethics as a journalist and asked the government and tournament organizers to remove the information instead of sharing the most personal details that could have jeopardized the player's privacy and safety, although he did also show Alcaraz's passport photo.
In recent decades, there have been numerous stories involving athletes or other celebrities having their personal details hacked. If these details fall into the wrong hands, they can potentially harm those individuals and those around them.
A story involving Emma Raducanu demonstrates why players desperately need privacy for their security. The Briton cried and hid behind the umpire's chair because a man who had been stalking her was in the crowd.
If Raducanu or other female players, in particular, had their details shared, the possibility of other stalkers or even more dangerous people trying to use them for twisted reasons would be more likely.
The Rio Open organizers and the city's government must be careful to keep details confidential. All players deserve to have a private life without fear of nefarious figures accessing their personal information.
Alcaraz's next tournament will be the 2025 Indian Wells Open. He is the two-time defending champion in California and must be excited to return to a venue where he has been so successful.
