A series of online posts falsely claims that Spanish pro tennis player Carlos Alcaraz gave a very public tribute to the late political activist Charlie Kirk.
According to the claims, Alcaraz dedicated a permanent, empty seat at the Arthur Ashe Stadium, where many US Open tennis matches are played, and commemorated Kirk with a gold plaque and a speech, before donating thousands of dollars to his family.
Kirk was a conservative political activist, best known as the founder of Turning Point USA and host of a nationally syndicated talk radio show. He was shot and killed on 10 September 2025 at Utah Valley University. Authorities quickly arrested a suspect, Tyler Robinson, who was taken to the Utah County Jail and is facing formal charges, including aggravated murder and obstruction of justice.
Kirk had built a very prominent profile in American politics, and news of his death rippled widely across US and international outlets, spreading also to Europe and sparking deep political debate across the continent.
Despite this, Alcaraz’s alleged tribute never took place, as it would have been impossible without the direct involvement of the United States Tennis Association (USTA).
The USTA fully controls the Arthur Ashe Stadium, and every seat is reserved and sold to spectators during the US Open.
The association does not operate any initiative that lets players or private individuals permanently dedicate seats. The closest thing to this is its Brick and Paver Programme, which allows people to purchase personalised, engraved bricks or pavers.
There’s also no official source backing up the claims: if a permanent seat dedication with a plaque were ever approved, it would be announced in press releases, featured on the US Open’s official site, and widely reported by mainstream outlets.
This was the case when the stadium itself was named for Arthur Ashe, and the entire tennis centre for Billie Jean King. In the Alcaraz case, the story appeared only in fringe sources.
The claims about Alcaraz giving are speech are also false. The viral story included a fabricated press conference quote in which he supposedly said, “Tennis is not just about trophies or rankings. It’s about the people who believe in you, who lift you when no one else sees the work behind the scenes. Charlie was one of those people for me and for the sport. This empty seat ensures that his spirit will always remain on court with us.”
However, the Spanish tennis star never made such remarks. Every US Open press conference is scheduled, recorded, and distributed to media outlets, and none of Alcaraz’s actual appearances included any mention of Kirk or an empty seat.
Had he delivered such a significant statement, it would have been instantly reported by global sports media, but instead the quote only appeared in the same debunked posts that also spread the false seat dedication claim.
Additional social media reports claimed that Alcaraz had donated $260,000 (€222,000) to Charlie Kirk’s family, allegedly broken down into $90,000 for murals and floral memorials and $170,000 to support Kirk’s daughters.
These are also false, as no credible news outlet, official US Open source, or representative for Alcaraz has ever confirmed such a contribution, and fact-checkers identified this claim as part of the same fabricated narrative that invented the empty seat and speech.
A donation of that size by the world’s top-ranked tennis player would also have been widely reported by global media, but there is no record of it outside the debunked viral posts.