Carlos #Alcaraz loses to Roman #Safiullin in #parismasters today. Stephen addresses the questions in the minds of tennis fans. What do you think?
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30 Comments
I think it would be good for Carlos himself to hear this. Great take. Thanks for the reassurance. I feel better now:)
I'll tell you what is going on. He is not new any more. Last year he stunned everybody, but now other players learned how to play against him.They've learned his weak sides (everybody has it) and they know how to explore them. Now he has to learn how to adapt, because if he will continue playing his old game, he will keep losing. Notice that his drop shots don't work any more. He became predictable.
Alcaraz is no phenomenon. He is what i call a precocious talent who could become a great player in time and I am not one to overhype what he has achieved.
I believe that with each passing year it will be harder as a lot of other players learn how to beat him.Couple this with the pressure of being likened to Djokovic or the expectation that he will eclipse Nole's achievements you have a disaster waiting to happen.
I think he has actually begun to believe the hype and now has Nole in his head when he still has a lot to do before we can talk about him in the same sentence as Djokovic
after every defeat, I keep hearing what happens to Alcaraz. The competition on hard is harder than any other surface, let's give credit to the players who beat him rather than thinking that the problem is Alcaraz. Safiullin is a good hard player who recently beat Zverev, he was not beaten by a mediocre player to ask such questions.
Poor Carlos every loss is a headline. Why not celebrate the player he lost to? Who made a breakthrough of his career? Carlos will be back and will win many more tournaments .Zverev and FAA endured worse for much longer and now they are almost back to peak. Was Carlos’ family there yesterday? I did not see his Dad or brother?
Carlos is facing the problems of transitioning from the Underdog to the Topdog. Now every Player is chasing him instead other way round. He has more to loose now
Playing too many tournaments. Taking its toll on his body and mind. Too much pressure on him to win everything.
Señorita Carlitos was never #1 and will not win even half the majors Novak has
Alcaraz’s faux “#1” will always come with an asterisk due to the ludicrous 2022 Wimbledon etc., rankings charade and disgraceful totalitarian banning of Djokovic from key tournaments in the US & Australia over the last two years.
One thing is evident…he has no flare anymore, lost creativity and now you have a predictable baseliner that runs a lot but his ball doesn’t do any damage because it simply doesn’t penetrate.
What made him special was his unpredictable shot selection, speed and happiness on court. Now I see a tense player struggling. Hope he figures it out because he definitely has that extra in him
He will be fine, it happens and the longer you are on tour, you will get figured out, and beaten by players who have their day, and play for the home crowd, have a late resurgence in the season etc.. Alcaraz is a spectacular player, but focusing so heavily on the year end number 1 position, is wrong in my opinion! Staying healthy and playing good tennis will go hand in hand with getting better results! You just can't force the issue, if your not in the best shape, have some injuries, long season some mental fatigue etc.. you can not just miraculously play out of this world tennis, and win everything!
I don’t think it has to do with Cincy final. No way. It just was a close match. Federer and djoko had a few tough looses to nadal (French Open) and it didn’t break them.
pls stop comparing GOAT with a 2 majors winner……..when carlos wins 24 then compare all you want
Pretty reasonable assessment 👏
Carlos is in a transition phase. Young, talented players play fearless when they first breakout, imagine Tsitsipas in 2019, Zverev in 2017 etc.
Playing as an underdog is always easier.
After the first couple of years those young players have to face the burden of expectations, they can't remain underdogs forever, now they are contendors and expected to win. Carlos is just not comfortable being in that position. He had issues dealing with it in 2023 French Open where he was going in as no. 1 and the favourite.
He was again the underdog in Wimbledon and that's where he plays his best tennis.
After winning Wimbledon he was put on a pedestal, suddenly he's the favourite in every tournament with a target on his back.
After USO he wanted the year end no 1 and put too much pressure on himself.
He also lacks a great serve so he's more susceptible to upsets on hard courts.
I think he'll come back with a vengeance next year because there will be lower expectations and he can play freely without that pressure. Ultimately he'll have to deal with this situation, he'll have to figure out how to handle the pressure of being no 1 and being a favourite in every tournament you enter.
Let's not forget Djokovic took a while to get his body and mind to where it ended up… the kids is 20… he'll be fine (coming from a Djokovic fan)
Djokovic had breathing problems and until he figured that out he was always going to be number 3… someone who can win any day but didn't have the stamina to win at the highest level consistently… then he figured out his issues and exploded… no one really knows what these players are dealing with physically and or mentally… but he's already proved that he's not these guys from the list generations
He’s not rly in a slump. He’s just beatable in general. That was already the case even before. The main difference is how high the level of the rest of the tour is playing rn. The quality of matches top to bottom has been CRAZY
Màybe, Alcaraz is not the player he's been hyped up to be & his winning streak is over. Now he has to play real tennis, the lazy drop shots don't work. Skilled players are rising through the ranks, his ego has been bruised & his stamina & fitness needs to be polished if he's going to make a come back.
I beat him in Wimbledon I got into his head, he lost it destroying a post and a racquet. Cincinnati will be even easier I'm No 1 now.. But those Cincinnati tears told a whole other story. It's tougher staying at the top than getting there. Carlos was indeed mortal despite playing like Superman at Wimbledon. Carlos was not just beaten in Cincinnati he was mentally broken for opening the door to Djokovic. He really respects Djokovic, he patented much of his game off him very likely his idol. That's gotta sting and it shook him back to reality. On any given day, anyone can be beaten. He painfully realized he was fallible, great champions adapt. Sometime champions fail to adapt. Alcaraz barring injury will be in Turin and he will be most ravenously hungry for that trophy.
He is just 20 and like all champions had bad seasons. His bad season is this. He will certainly come up all these hindrances and emerge with better. All the best, Carlitos!
7:58 I also think as most have mentioned he has lost his confidence after losing to Novak and Danial within a short period. That’s what the great players do, destroying the confidence of the opponent with their experience and ability. And the other thing is players like Novak, Rafa knows the way to comeback by being attacking or being defensive but Carlos only knows one way, that’s attacking. Definitely he’s the next Djokovic in Tennis World but to be the Next Nole he will have to change his game. He’s got all the shots in the book but he doesn’t know how to use those shots against his opponents. Just look at Nole he don’t use all his shots against his opponent he just use shots that hurt his opponent that’s why he wins most, at the end of the first set he knows all the weaknesses of the opponent. Once he identifies the weaknesses then he attacks according to that. He’s a genius…
Alcaraz should and could be the next best GOAT. His mental state needs get re-set. His skills are exceptional but his attitude is wrong. Skill and health issued aside; it is about pride and reference. The greats are humble and rejoice in excellence they perform and serve the game, referencing on that excellence and the love of the game; wherein their values are. (Exple: Roger Federer) This also makes for a more stable person and player. Alcaraz demonstrates pride and referencing on the crowd, deriving value therein; this makes way for high highs and low lows within the players bandwidth of skill and health. Essentially "pride comes before destruction and haughty spirit before a fall".
he is human not a robot he is young and allready at the top .walk a mile in his shoes …
Vamos Clitoris !!!
He is on off steroids cycle, he will get on steroids cycle before atp tour finals, peaking for the AO…sad but true, he seems like good kid.
He's very young. At the beginning of his career. Not surprising. Non-issue.
he will be back
People seemed to FORGET or DISMISS the FACT that NOVAK BUTCHERED that 2nd set at Wimbledon.. Novak was leading up with a break, LOST it which lead to a TIEBREAK and during the tbreak he had MULTIPLE SET POINTS.. if NOVAK had won that 2nd set, he would have been up by 2 sets already and that's really a tough ask for anyone against NOVAK.
There's a REASON why NOVAK deliberately said HE HAD REGRETS at Wimbledon during the USO Press Conference…
There's a REASON why NOVAK and his team NEVER spoke about the WIMBLEDON Loss ever privately afterwards…
CARLOS NEVER WON WIMBLEDON, NOVAK LOST IT.
and when Carlos LOST that CINCY final and the World no.1 ranking… that GOT TO HIM MENTALLY.
Why do you think he always mentioned the year-end no.1? why did he admit that "NOVAK is ALWAYS on his mind"?
You look like Serbian basketball player Bogdan Bogdanovic.