The black beast of Alcaraz, the threat in the ranking and the reasons for its defeat: "I don't know what happened"
The game ends and, win or lose, Carlos Alcaraz gets on the stationary bike. A routine that has already become a tradition, an exercise that allows you to relax, relax, and stretch.. He did not fail this Wednesday, despite the elimination in the quarterfinals of the Australian Open at the hands of Alexander Zverev, and it was right there, in the middle of the gym, when he began to analyze what happened. He was hugged first by his older brother Álvaro, then by his representative Albert Molina, later by his physiotherapist Juanjo Moreno and, in the end, by his coach in this Grand Slam, Samuel López, to do a joint study.. Because? Why was Zverev so superior? Why did Alcaraz hardly have any opportunities?
«I don't know what to say, I don't know what happened. Right now I'm hot and I don't know what conclusions to draw. Surely we will reach conclusions with my team and all together we will improve. On a mental level I cannot have these lapses, this feeling of not finding the feeling. I can play better or worse, but I have to keep my shots. This cannot happen to me again, I have to improve it,” commented Alcaraz, who assured that he had not been affected by the absence of his usual coach, Juan Carlos Ferrero, absent in Melbourne after knee surgery.
More than lamenting his own performance, Alcaraz wanted to praise the performance of his rival, Zverev, who had already become a kind of bête noire.. The German is already the one who has beaten him the most times -five-, with a very clear balance on cement -one victory for the Spanish and four defeats-. «Sascha played a great game. It started as it should have started and as I thought it was going to, aggressive on serve.. Against players of this level it is difficult to come back and come back,” added the Spaniard who now, in the remainder of the tournament, risks his position in the ATP ranking.. Although he will close the gap with Novak Djokovic for number one, if Daniil Medvedev takes the title he will take away number two and drop him to three.
The upcoming calendar
Now Alcaraz will return home, to Villena, to continue improving with Ferrero – he talked about training his serve more – and will face the long season that awaits him. In February he will return to the South American clay court tour, with the ATP 250 in Buenos Aires and the ATP 500 in Rio de Janeiro confirmed, in March he will defend his title at the Indian Wells Masters 1000 and his semi-finals at the Miami Masters 1000 and in spring he will return to Europe to face the clay tournaments – Godó, Madrid, Monte Carlo and Rome – and the second Grand Slam of the year, Roland Garros.
“Nobody is perfect. I'm not going to make excuses for my age, but I'm 20 years old.. I know I can't have these disconnections, it's something I need to improve.. The good thing is that I know it and I have to work on it. If I look back, it happened more before and now less,” said Alcaraz, positive despite his defeat yesterday in Australia.. As he commented, for him, now the favorite to win the title is Novak Djokovic due to his five-set experience, although he applauded Jannik Sinner's “incredible tennis” so far in the tournament. “I will watch that semifinal, that's for sure,” the Spaniard commented at a press conference.