Carlos Alcaraz has given his verdict on the “worst match of his career” as he admitted that he “could not control himself” when he smashed his racket during the shock defeat to Gael Monfils at the Cincinnati Open.
Fresh from winning silver at the Paris Olympics, Alcaraz was the hot favourite against veteran Monfils and appeared to be on course for the win after taking the opening set on Thursday. With the score 6-4, 6-6 (1-3), play was called off due to rain and they resumed on Friday afternoon.
Alcaraz admitted during the post-match press conference that the rot had started to set in on Thursday.
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“I just [tried] not to think about the match [Thursday] night. I just want to recover as best as I can, to have a good rest and be ready for today’s match,” the Spaniard said.
“Yesterday, I didn’t play well as well. I think yesterday the longest rally was five balls. So I couldn’t get feelings yesterday. So I just thought that, ‘Well, have some rest, and tomorrow it’s gonna be another day. I’m probably going to feel better.’ But it didn’t happen.”
When the match resumed, the four-time Grand Slam winner was all over the show and Monfils took the tie-breaker to send the match to a deciding set.
With the score 1-2 in the third set, Alcaraz lost his cool and obliterated his racket, but it didn’t do him any good as the Frenchman ended up winning 4-6, 7-6 (7-5), 6-4.
The world No 3 admitted that he lost control.
“I felt sometimes that I wanted to break the racket. It never happened before, because I could control myself in those situations, in those feelings,” he said. “Most of the time I could control myself and it could go better in the matches or in the situation that I’ve been feeling before.
“Today, I couldn’t control myself, because, as I said, I was feeling that I was not playing any kind of tennis. I think some players, a lot of players, during their careers and during certain moments, they can’t control themselves. And it was one of the moments for me.”
Alcaraz is now 38-8 for the season with his defeat to Monfils his second on the trot as he also lost the Paris Olympics gold medal match against Djokovic.
But unlike the Roland Garros match against Djokovic where he played well, the 20-year-old felt he was never at the races against the Frenchman.
“I felt like it was the worst match that I ever played in my career,” he said. “[I] couldn’t play. Honestly, I’ve been practising really well here in this tournament.
“The previous days, I was feeling great, hitting the ball clear, moving well. I don’t know what happened. I don’t know how I felt like this, but I couldn’t control myself. I couldn’t be better. So this match, it was impossible to win.”
