Serena Williams’ former coach identifies an interesting issue that worries Carlos Alcaraz

Patrick Mouratoglou has pointed out an interesting problem that he believes Carlos Alcaraz has been struggling with so far in his career. According to the former Serena Williams coach, the Spaniard quickly becomes emotionally drained and someone needs to find a way to address that.

After missing the 2023 Australian Open due to injury, the Spaniard won six of his opening 10 tournaments that season – including Wimbledon. But just when it looked like the 21-year-old was replacing Novak Djokovic as the sport’s most dominant figure, he began to struggle and didn’t win a title until March this year.

Now Alcaraz seems to be experiencing something similar again. After impressively winning back-to-back Grand Slams at the French Open and Wimbledon, the Spanish four-time Major winner was surprised in his Cincinnati Masters opener and also suffered a shock second-round loss at the US Open.

“He put everything on the line, mentally, emotionally, naturally, physically and tennis-wise, to win them, because it weighs so much. And when it weighs so much on you, emotionally, it’s exhausting. He was exhausted, mentally exhausted. He’s very, very emotional,” Mouratoglou said in a video uploaded to Instagram.

Mouratoglou: Alcaraz has had cramps far too often…

If you remember correctly, the Spaniard was facing Djokovic in the 2023 French Open semi-finals and was tied at one set apiece when he started experiencing cramps throughout his body and eventually lost in four sets. Afterwards, Alcaraz admitted that the stress and anxiety he was feeling caused the cramps.

“We’ve seen him cramp many times. If you look at Roger, Rafa and Novak, have you seen them cramp once in a game? In their whole career? He cramped many times, only at 20. He’s an emotional player. So I think knowing that, in the future they have to come up with a calendar where he gets enough rest – mental rest, not physical rest – mental rest. I think it’s very important for his future,” Mouratoglou added.

It remains to be seen whether the world number 3 can recover in the coming years and put a disappointing summer on hard court behind him.