The Olympic final could remain in the memory of Carlos Alcaraz

Carlos Alcaraz has not expressed great tennis play in the Masters 1000 of Cincinnatiand failed to match last year’s final (lost to Novak Djokovic at the end of one of the most beautiful matches of 2023). The former world number 1 was defeated in three sets by the French veteran Gael Monfilswho took advantage of the bad day of the young Spanish champion.

The four-time Grand Slam champion was hampered by the speed of the court and made many unnecessary mistakes, which allowed the Frenchman to qualify for the round of 16 (where he was defeated by Dane Holger Rune). The 21-year-old from Murcia lost 590 ATP points to a second-round loss in Cincinnati after reaching the final last year. The Spaniard will be ranked No. 4 in the world at the US Open if Alexander Zverev wins the title on Monday.

The last two months have been very tough for Carlitos, who had to change surfaces and always finished at the bottom of the tournaments. The Spaniard won the Roland Garros and the Wimbledon Championshipsbefore winning the silver medal at the Olympic Games in Paris.

Carlitos lost 590 points

Alcaraz was confident he could win the gold medal, but he was surprised by the excellent level of Novak Djokovic in the final. That defeat may have left some dross in the young Spaniard’s head. Carlos Alcaraz’s performance against Gael Monfils in Cincinnati was the worst of his 2024 and one of the worst of his career.

During the press conference, the former world number 1 admitted that he felt terrible on court: “I felt like it was the worst match I ever played in my career. I couldn’t play. To be honest, I’ve been practicing really well here in this tournament. The previous days I was feeling great, hitting the ball well, moving well. I don’t know what happened. I don’t know how I felt like that, but I couldn’t control myself. I couldn’t be better. So this match, it was impossible to win.

“I felt like I wanted to break the racket sometimes. That never happened before, because I could control myself in those situations, in those feelings,” Alcaraz said. “Usually I could control myself and things could go better in the matches or in the situation that I felt before. Today I couldn’t control myself, because, as I said, I felt like I wasn’t playing any form of tennis. I think some players, a lot of players, in their careers and in certain moments, they don’t have control over themselves. And that was one of those moments for me.”

The young Spaniard also broke a racket during the match, a clear sign of his difficulties. “I just tried not to think about last night’s match. I just want to recover as best as I can, have a good rest and be ready for today’s match. Yesterday I didn’t play so well. I think the longest rally yesterday was five balls. So I couldn’t get any feelings yesterday. So I just thought, ‘Well, rest a bit, and tomorrow is another day. I’ll probably feel better.’ But it didn’t happen” – he concluded.

The Spaniard needs to recharge

At just 21 years old, Carlos Alcaraz can already boast of having won 4 Grand Slam titles, plus 5 Masters 1000 and several other titles, not least the silver medal at the Paris Olympics. After his explosion in the tennis world, he immediately attracted a lot of curiosity and media attention, which aroused a natural interest even among the most prestigious sponsors.

There are those who are not quite in line with the commercial management of the Spanish career. This is Ion Tiriacformer director of the Madrid tournament, who was interviewed by We love Tennis in Bucharest, gave his interesting point of view on the subject. “He is a talented player. He has incredible speed and power, but I think he has too much visibility around him“They want to reap the financial rewards when he is just starting his career. You have to be more patient and leave him alone, because the dollar they earn today is nothing compared to what they can earn in a few years,” said the Romanian without half measures.

If the Spaniard wants to end the season at the top of the ATP rankings, he will have to achieve a great result at the US OpenThe former world No. 1 won his first Major in New York in 2022, where he Jannik Sinner in an epic quarter-final.