Carlos Alcaraz holds the trophy after winning his first tournament in eight months. Photograph: Ryan Sun/AP
There have been many tennis players who have complained about what they read about and directed toward themselves on social media. To be fair, they are not alone. Social media can be a place to communicate with people different in different parts of the world and different walks of life and find kinship with like-minded people. But one can also run into trolls who deliver harsh words and remain nameless; the worst kind of bully.
WTA No. 1 Iga Swiatek has recently complained about the kind of hate she gets on social media platforms. The problem is that players need to keep some kind of presence on Facebook, X, Instagram, and other sites because many times a player has to be involved in the narrative of some story about them.
Carlos Alcaraz is seemingly one of the more beloved players on the ATP tour. He is young, talented, and effervescent. He should be in the public eye for the next 15 years or more. This means he will probably, and unfortunately, will need to learn to develop the skill of ignoring social media to some degree. Otherwise, people will hate on him just because they 1) must not have anything better to do, and 2) are not nice people (or bots).
Carlos Alcaraz has the right attitude toward social media
During a press conference after a match at Indian Wells, Alcaraz was asked about social media and how he deals with the negative aspects of the platform. His answer was honest and open. He also showed his age a bit in his answer because he is not old enough to understand as years go by one can become more jaded. Let’s hope that does not happen to Alcaraz, however.
The Spaniard still implied great advice, however. Just say away from the negativity.
When asked about how he personally handles social media feedback, he said, “You know, as I said many times, I’m a guy that see a lot of the phone, and I see a lot of comments that the people give to you. Most of them are really good ones, but a few of them is the bad ones.
“You know, it’s difficult to deal with it, but, yes, that’s what I’m trying to do, to stay away from everything, be myself and enjoy every time that I step on the court…It was difficult for me to deal with it, but I trying to stay away for everything and trying to, you know, enjoy the court. I think that’s the most important thing for me.”
The hope is two-fold. One is that people simply become generally nicer to others they do not know on social media, especially athletes and personalities who get lots of attention because of what they do. Two is that Carlos Alcaraz keeps being himself and doesn’t let the hate get him down.
