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Carlos Alcaraz will return to action at the Vienna Open tomorrow as he kicks off his European indoor hard court swing.
The Spaniard was last seen suffering a shocking early exit at the Shanghai Masters, losing to Zizou Bergs in straight sets. Alcaraz then received a late wildcard for the ATP 500 tournament in Vienna, where he will be seeded second behind soon-to-be-crowned year-end world number one Alexander Zverev.
A total of $586,884 will be awarded to the winner of the Vienna Open, while the runner-up will receive $315,763. But for Alcaraz, former US Open finalist Greg Rusedski thinks the 23-year-old will have earned a certain amount just for showing up at the event.
In an episode of his podcast, ‘Off Court with Greg‘, Rusedski said: “For the 500 events, usually someone like Carlos, the rumour is it’s about $850,000 to show up for the week. So, you’re talking big dollars before you even hit a tennis ball.
“And then, depending on the country and the supply and demand, sometimes it can go into the seven figures, the appearance money as well. It just depends how many tickets the tournament needs to sell. Depends how bad the sponsor wants that player there. So there’s multiple facets and it’s always run through the agent 99% of the time.”
Alcaraz is making just his second appearance at the Vienna Open, five years after his tournament debut. His sole appearance at the event came at the 2021 edition, where he made the semifinals before losing to Zverev.
Zverev will be Alcaraz’s main competition at the Vienna Open, and the two will clash in the final should they get there. Zverev and Alcaraz have faced off just once this year, with their sole meeting played in the Australian Open semifinals, where the seven-time major champion came out on top.