‘I cannot agree with him’

Carlos Alcaraz’s defeat in the second round of the 2024 US Open was one of the major shocks of recent years, especially in a Grand Slam tournament. The young Spanish champion played really badly against Botic van de Zandschulp, who took away the satisfaction of beating the 2022 edition champion in three sets.

Carlitos – who reached the semi-finals last year – will lose many ATP points and several positions at the end of this tournament. The former world number 1 appeared mentally exhausted after the hard work of the last three months, in which he achieved truly amazing results.

The four-time Grand Slam champion won the French Open, the Wimbledon Championships and a silver medal at the Paris Olympics, losing to Novak Djokovic in one of the most beautiful matches of this year. That defeat was not completely digested by the Spanish ace, who was very convinced of winning the gold medal and handled his nerves worse than the Serbian legend.

During the press conference, Alcaraz admitted that he was not yet mentally strong enough and had to work harder from this point of view. The 21-year-old from Murcia never felt like he could turn the match against van de Zandschulp and made no tactical change to try to limit his opponent’s game.

Carlitos has not found solutions

Nobody expected Alcaraz to be eliminated from the US Open in the second round, despite the Spanish ace having played badly in Cincinnati in the only pre-season Grand Slam tournament of the season.

The current world number 3 has admitted that it has taken a significant step back from previous months. Speaking with ‘El Larguero’, former ATP ace and top analyst Alex Corretja discussed Carlitos’ shocking loss in New York: “With all the affection and love I have for Carlos, I cannot agree with him. He has not taken any steps back, he has taken a thousand steps forward in the…