Carlos Alcaraz lost his match–and a racket–at the Western & Southern Open on Friday afternoon.
After resuming play following Thursday night’s rain delay, Alcaraz failed to maintain a set advantage and fell to Gael Monfils 4-6, 7-6(5), 6-4 in the second round. Leading 3-1 in the second-set tiebreaker when they came back, Monfils closed out the ‘breaker and then used one break in the third to clinch the huge upset after a total of two hours and 30 minutes.
Perhaps even more shocking than the result itself was a sudden outburst by Alcaraz. Never one to break a racket (similar to fellow Spaniard and Olympics doubles partner Rafael Nadal), the 21-year-old destroyed one by striking it on the ground four times while trailing Monfils by a break in the decider.
Alcaraz also called it “the worst match that I ever played.”
“I felt like it was the worst match that I ever played in my career,” he said during his press conference. “[I] couldn’t play. Honestly, I’ve been practicing 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.
“It’s kind of really difficult to find some good stuff from this match. So I want to forget it, and try to move on to New York. I’ll go to New York and I’ll try to practice well, to get used to those courts. And I will forget this match, because I think it is impossible to get any good things about this match.”
More bad news for Alcaraz is that he will now have to settle for the No. 3 seed at the U.S. Open behind Jannik Sinner and Novak Djokovic. The reigning French Open and Wimbledon champion would have passed Djokovic for the No. 2 spot by reaching at least the quarterfinals in Cincinnati.
As for Monfils, he lost to Holger Rune in a three-setter later on Friday.
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wowzer
It would be nice if he gave some credit to Monfils, but he hasn’t…and I watched entire press conference.
Carlitos is human
He needs that to go to the next level. He was handed a crushing defeat at the Olympics and is slowly realizing that the world is not what it seems and that was an expression of that, not his performance. It will be important for him to stay true to himself and realize that’s not him, its not his fault, thats just the way people and the world are. Continue to be good to the people that are good to your Carlos.
and he probably needs a rest also. That should put him back on level terms with Djokovic heading into the USO. A blessing in disguise.
and of course, it felt like it was impossible to win. The rain delay or whatever turned it into a lottery and psychology probably played a part with an opponent that saw an opportunity to prove a point via an interrupted match. That will make Monfils feel better about himself after all the losses to Djokovic throughout his career. “I beat a multiple grand slam winner and the future of tennis.”
Humanity at its finest.