Carlos Alcaraz offered a blunt, laughing explanation for the extra layer he wore Friday at the U.S. Open.
The defending champion’s loose brown Nike tank top, a Travis Scott x Cactus Jack collaboration, kept slipping during his first two matches and exposing his chest. The kit quickly became an online sideshow.
Former WTA player Eugenie Bouchard added, “Love you Carlos but we’ve got to put the nip away.”
Alcaraz made the change himself. For his third-round match against Wu Yibing on Arthur Ashe Stadium, he added a white undershirt beneath the same tank and won 6-3, 6-4, 6-1.
“I think I’ve been seeing too much of my nipples lately,” Alcaraz told reporters. “I felt like I could hide it for at least one match.”
He said the decision was his, not Nike’s, and that the extra shirt felt comfortable.
“So I think I’m going to stay like that,” Alcaraz added.
The cover-up did not end the spectacle. After the match, Alcaraz pulled off both shirts, and fans in the front rows reached for their phones.
Back from more than four months out with a wrist injury, Alcaraz has dropped just one set through three rounds. He next faces 20th-seeded American Tommy Paul, whom he has beaten in five straight meetings.
