Carlos Alcaraz entered this year’s US Open as the defending champion. He showed such good form throughout the tournament that defending the trophy began to seem like a formality. That’s why his loss to Daniil Medvedev in the semifinals was such a surprise. An even bigger surprise was the post-match words of the Spaniard, who said he was not mature enough to win such a match.
Although Carlos Alcaraz is only 20 years old, he managed to dominate men’s tennis, becoming number 1 in the ranking and winning two Grand Slam tournaments – US Open 2022 and Wimbledon 2023. Moreover, the Spaniard is already providing us with spectacular matches like Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic in their best days. It turns out that Alcaraz doesn’t feel like the best tennis player in the world at all. After his unexpected defeat to Daniil Medvedev in the semifinals of this year’s US Open, he said something that surprised many.
-It was a very hard-fought first set. In the tiebreak I lost my head, let’s say, at 3-3. I played three or four points out of control. Without thinking. It was difficult manage that moment. In the second set I didn’t get back on track. I was like on the moon! Obviously Daniil played very well. It was difficult to get back into the match. I almost hit the racket on the ground, it was difficult to stay calm. This kind of match can happen. He played really great. I couldn’t or didn’t know how to find solutions. I thought I had gotten better at finding solutions when the match isn’t going the right way. But this match makes me change my mind. I’m not mature enough to win that kind of matches. I will learn from it.- said Alcaraz.
As a result, the Spaniard lost not only the chance to defend his title, but also the lead in the ranking. From now on, Novak Djokovic is the leader. This happened because the Serb was not present in the event last year, so by winning this year’s edition he gained as much as 2,000 points.
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