Carlos Alcaraz had a damning verdict of his performance at the Cincinnati Open after crashing out in the opening round.
The world No. 3 imploded in a rare meltdown, destroying his racket early in the third set before going on to lose to Gael Monfils 4-6 7-6(5) 6-4.
He later complained about the “insane” surface and said he didn’t want to be on the court anymore, declaring: “It was the worst match that I have ever played in my career.”
Last year’s runner-up was brutally honest after losing his opening match in Cincinnati. Explaining the defeat, he said: “Well honestly, [it] was really, really tough for me. I felt like it was the worst match that I have ever played in my career. [I] couldn’t play, honestly.”
Alcaraz had a quick turnaround between winning a silver medal at the Paris Olympics and heading State-side for the Cincinnati Open but he said he had been feeling good in pre-tournament practice sessions, though the conditions on Centre Court completely threw him. He continued: “Probably I felt like it was another sport playing on the Centre Court than the other courts.
“The balls were faster on the Centre Court, bounce much, much more than other courts. I warmed up before the match and as I said, it was a totally different feeling, I don’t know why. Honestly, I don’t know. I don’t know what happened, I don’t know how I felt like this way. But honestly, I couldn’t control myself, I couldn’t be better so this match, it was impossible to win and that’s all.”
When they started the match on Thursday, the 21-year-old took the first set but Monfils was a mini-break up in the tiebreak as the rain came, halting the match and forcing the players to return on Friday. The Frenchman forced a decider and broke Alcaraz early on. When Alcaraz blew a break point to get back on serve, tempers flared.
Alcaraz’s outburst in the final set was completely out of character, as the Spaniard has never been known to smash a racket, much less hurl it into the ground multiple times until it was destroyed. Explaining his actions, the four-time Grand Slam champion added: “Well, I [have] felt sometimes that I wanted to break the racket. It never happened before because Icould control myself in those situations, in those feelings.
“And most of the time I could control myself and I could get better in the matches or in the situations 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 so it was really frustrating for me. There was at some point that I wanted to leave the court, I don’t want to be on the court anymore. It was [a] really hurtful moment for me and that’s it. I think some players a lot of players during their careers and during some certain moments, they can’t control themselves and it was one of those moments for me.”
The court speed has been a talking point this week in Cincinnati, with several players commenting on how quickly they have been playing. But Alcaraz couldn’t get over the difference between the outside courts and the main stage on which he faced Monfils. “As I said, I’ve been practising pretty well, feeling great [here] this year,” he explained.
“And as I said, I warmed up before this match in Court 5 and it was a totally different sport for me, that’s my feeling. And yeah, I remember for example yesterday I stepped on the court to warm up, you know the five minutes warming up, and we couldn’t put two balls in. It was incredibly different. It was insane. So I don’t know why that’s different courts, different kind of speed, the surfaces. So that’s what I felt.”
Alcaraz now has a 0-1 record in the North American hard-court summer swing going into the US Open. But he’s ready to turn his attention to the final Grand Slam of the season. “I want to forget it and try to move on to New York. I’ll move 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’s impossible to get any good things about this match,” he said.
