Tennis' most electric star is a 'huge fan' of Michael Jordan, but he won't weigh in on who is the GOAT

• Carlos Alcaraz — the top-ranked tennis player in the world — has recently become an NBA fan.
• He told Insider he's a "huge fan" of Michael Jordan but stopped short of calling him the GOAT.

NEW YORK — Carlos Alcaraz is pretty busy on the tennis court these days, but that didn't stop him from wading into basketball territory at the US Open.

The world No. 1 arrived at player media day in New York City donning a hat featuring the Jumpman logo and a T-shirt printed with a photo of Michael Jordan taking a shot. Alcaraz is sponsored by Nike, but not its Jordan Brand subsidiary.

"Everybody knows Michael, what he did to the game," Alcaraz told Insider. "He was something unbelievable. I'm a huge fan of him, and a huge fan of his clothes as well, as you can see."

The 20-year-old Spaniard told the press that he only "started to follow the NBA" fairly recently, but he's "watched a lot of videos" in an attempt to catch up. He seems to understand the lore of His Airness, but he's not ready to call him the GOAT — or greatest of all time — just yet.

"I'm not going to talk about the GOAT," Alcaraz said with a smile. "It's not a doubt that he's one of those."

While he's come to know the legends of basketball past through screens, the two-time Grand Slam champion has gotten to know some of today's NBA stars personally. He's built something of a friendship with Miami Heat forward Jimmy Butler, who is "a really huge fan of tennis," Alcaraz says.

The pair first met when the six-time NBA All-Star watched one of Alcaraz's matches in Buenos Aires earlier this year. The reigning US Open champion returned the favor in March, attending a Heat game while in town for the Miami Open.

They reunited once more just last week in Flushing Meadows, where Butler joined a slew of tennis stars for a charity exhibition ahead of the 2023 US Open.

"He's a great athlete, NBA star," Alcaraz said. "So it's for me almost crazy to have a good relationship with someone like Jimmy."

Though he certainly has a clutch gene of his own, Alcaraz will look to channel "Playoff Jimmy" as he advances through the final Grand Slam of the season. He's seeking to become the first man to successfully defend his US Open title since Roger Federer achieved the feat in 2008.