Carlos Alcaraz becomes first player born in 2000s to surpass $20 million in career prize money earnings

Carlos Alcaraz has had a meteoric rise on the ATP tour, winning two Major titles and overall 12 titles in such a nascent phase of his career.

The Spaniard has also accumulated $20.366 million in career prize money earnings after his recent runner-up finish at the 2023 Cincinnati Open, becoming the first 2000s-born player to reach the $20 million milestone.

The 20-year-old had a good campaign at the ATP Masters 1000 tournament in Cincinnati this week, reaching the final by winning four back-to-back three-set encounters.

In the championship match, he looked set to win the title against Novak Djokovic as he held a match point in the second-set tiebreaker.

However, it wasn't meant to be, as Djokovic saved the match point with some brave tennis before taking the tiebreaker and eventually the match 5-7, 7-6(7), 7-6(4) to win his third title in Cincinnati.

Carlos Alcaraz, on his part, earned not only 600 ATP ranking points for his valiant efforts during the week but also took home US $556,630 in prize money.

The aforementioned sum of money, though, was enough to ensure that Alcaraz broke into the exclusive club of male players in the Open era to have amassed $20 million or more through their on-court performance alone (according to the US sports magazine named "TENNIS").

With his career currently valued at $20.366 million in prize money, the Spaniard also cracked the top 30 list of the highest prize money earners in the history of the sport.

Among active players, only 15 other players have earned more prize money in their careers than Carlos Alcaraz.

These players are: Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Andy Murray, Stan Wawrinka, Alexander Zverev, Daniil Medvedev, Marin Cilic, Dominic Thiem, Stefanos Tsitsipas, Kei Nishikori, Grigor Dimitrov, John Isner, Gael Monfils, Richard Gasquet, and Milos Raonic.

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Carlos Alcaraz is by far the most successful 2000s-born player on the ATP tour

Carlos Alcaraz and Holger Rune embrace at the 2022 Paris Masters

Carlos Alcaraz ascended to the World No. 1 spot for the first time in his career one year ago on the back of his maiden Major title at Flushing Meadows.

Since then, he has announced himself as the undisputed best 2000s-born male player, winning his first two Major titles at the US Open and Wimbledon.

The Spaniard, however, has his own young rivals who are looking to close in on his status as the best NextGen player at the moment.

World No. 4 Holger Rune, who is only a month older than Alcaraz, is the best young player after Alcaraz, having won his first ATP Masters 1000 tournament in Paris last year.

The Dane is closely followed by slightly older players like World No. 5 Jannik Sinner and World No. 15 Felix Auger-Aliassime as the next-best 2000s-born players on the ATP tour. While Sinner won his maiden ATP Masters 1000 title in Canada two weeks ago, Auger-Aliassime is yet to win a big tournament.

The 23-year-old, however, has been very consistent at the Major tournaments, having recorded a semifinal appearance at the 2021 US Open and quarterfinal appearances at the 2021 Wimbledon and the 2022 Australian Open.

The likes of 21-year-old Lorenzo Musetti, 21-year-old Jiří Lehečka, 22-year-old Sebastián Báez, and 20-year-old Ben Shelton have also shown plenty of promise recently.

Lehečka and Shelton announced themselves to the tennis world at the beginning of the 2023 ATP tour season, reaching the last eight in Melbourne as unseeded players.

Baez and Musetti, on their part, are yet to make their breakthrough at the Grand Slam tournaments but have made plenty of impact on the annual men's singles tour by winning three and two titles, respectively.