Tennis Carlos Alcaraz relieved after unexpected fall at US Open

Carlos Alcaraz He said an early goodbye to the US Open. The Spaniard (3rd in the ATP ranking) fell in the second round of the Grand Slam after losing 6-1, 7-5 and 6-4 against the Dutchman Botic van de Zandschulp (74th). .

Thus, the third seed in the competition, and semi-finalist in the previous edition, ended up paying for the physical effort accumulated without the necessary rest, as he ended up indicating after the fall in a press conference.

“I don’t know what to say right now. I think he played very well. He played great tennis. I thought he was going to give me more free points, but he didn’t make any mistakes. It threw me off a bit. I didn’t know how to handle it. I couldn’t raise my level. I think my tennis was always at the same point. It wasn’t enough to give me a chance to win. “What can I say? I didn’t feel good when I hit the ball and I made a lot of mistakes. When I wanted to come back, it was too late,” he said of his feelings on the pitch.

“The schedule is very tough. I played a lot of matches, at Roland Garros, Wimbledon and the Olympics. I took a few days off after the Games. I thought it was enough, but it wasn’t. . Maybe I came here without the energy I thought I had. I don’t want to use that as an excuse, but I’m the kind of player who needs more days of rest before a big tournament. I have to learn from that,” continued the Hispanic.

Additionally, he revealed what he was thinking as the match unfolded: “I was fighting against myself, in my head, during the match. In tennis, you are fighting against someone who is looking for the same thing as you, victory, and you have to be calm and think better to achieve them. Today, I was playing against him and against myself, in my head . Too many emotions that I couldn’t control. It was like a roller coaster. Sometimes it was up, other times it was down. “I can’t be like this if I want to win a tournament like this.”

“There have been several games where I’ve felt this way, and I always say the same thing. I have to think about it and learn. Right now, what I think is that I’m not changing and that’s the problem. I can’t stay here after every defeat without being able to change the situation. “I have to improve that,” he assessed.

At the same time, he was sinking into mental exhaustion.”I feel like instead of taking steps forward, I took them backwards mentally. I don’t know why. I was coming off a spectacular summer, saying that mentally I had taken steps forward, but I came on this tour and took them back. . Mentally, I’m not well, I’m not strong. It’s a problem. At the moment, I don’t want to say anything. I want to talk to my people and see what measures we take now. “I didn’t think so quickly about all the demands and how it could affect me.”

Finally, he ruled out that the loss of the gold medal at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games had influenced all this. “I don’t think about it too much. It was difficult for me in the moments that followed. About an hour after the match, I then realized that winning silver was a great achievement. I was proud of it. “I don’t think about it, so I would say it hasn’t affected me at all,” concluded Carlos Alcaraz.