Carlos Alcaraz’s indoor court troubles have been well documented in recent times and the 20-year-old Spaniard has himself admitted to struggling when the roof is covered. What was a fairytale beginning to the making of a star at last year’s US Open extended to this year’s Wimbledon grass courts in London when Carlos won his second grand slam title against Novak Djokovic.
However, a final stumble at the Cincinnati Open opened the floodgates of Alcaraz’s weaknesses and he struggled to maintain form in indoor tournaments such as the Shanghai Open, the Paris Masters and the Nitto ATP Finals. Several analyses have been done on his struggles, including a current coach and an ex-Grand Slam champion’s views on the topic.
Boris Becker on Carlos Alcaraz’s poor form
Carlos Alcaraz’s downtick in form is no different than fellow youngster Holger Rune’s stumbles. Boris Becker was hired as the Dane’s coach and immediately directed the Monte Carlo native to string successive victories for the first time in months. Becker offered his take on why Carlos Alcaraz was unable to find his footing in recent matches and opined that players had come to terms with the Spaniard’s style of play.
“My favourite saying in this context is, ‘The locker room never sleeps’. It means that the other players have realized how you have to play against Alcaraz,” Becker said in an interview with Eurosport.
Carlos Alcaraz recently lost to Novak Djokovic for the third time in four outings this year at the Nitto ATP Finals and immediately cut a sullen figure in his post-match interview while addressing his form.
“I feel like I am not in his level in indoor court obviously. I’ve played great matches in Wimbledon, in Cincinnati, in Roland Garros. I felt in that match that I’m in the level,” Alcaraz said disheartend.
A missed opportunity to reclaim the world no.1 ranking as the year ended approached was a consequence of his lack of form and Alcaraz has struggled to live up to the expectations set by him over the year by fans.
Carlos Alcaraz’s struggling to perform
To espouse Alcaraz’s loss of form, we have to provide perspective on his successes. After the 2022 US Open title, Alcaraz emerged victorious in the Argentina Open, Barcelona Open, Madrid Open, Queen’s Club Championships and Wimbledon in 2023. All of this occurred before the US Open, during which Alcaraz reached the semifinal.
It was then that he went off the rails with a round-of-16 loss at the Shanghai Open, a second-round loss at the Paris Masters and a semifinal exit at the ATP Finals. While it isn’t a drastic departure from Alcaraz’s strong display of quality on the tennis court, he has still struggled against the top-ten players, including losing to Jannik Sinner twice in a month.
The worst performance of all was an unexpected loss to Roman Safiullin in Paris, where the Spaniard was expected to perform well and reach the finals.
“I just didn’t feel well on the court,” the World No. 2 said after that loss. “A lot of things to improve, a lot of things to practise. I didn’t move well. Physically in the part of movement, I have to improve a lot.”
Alcaraz will end the year as world no. 2 and will expect to be fit for the 2024 Australian Open, a tournament he missed in 2023.
What are your opinions on Carlos Alcaraz’s loss of form? Let us know what the reasons are in the comments section below.
