Carlos Alcaraz said he was fighting himself as much as Botic van de Zandschulp as he slumped to a stunning US Open second-round defeat on Thursday.
“Today I was playing against the opponent, and I was playing against myself, you know, in my mind,” he said. “I mean, a lot of emotions that I couldn’t control.
“I was up in some points. Then I lose some points. I get down. It was a rollercoaster, let’s say, in my mind,” added the world number three, who was trying to become just the third man in the modern era to win the French Open, Wimbledon and the US Open in the same year.
Alcaraz admitted that 74th-ranked van de Zandschulp surprised him with his level of play in the 6-1, 7-5, 6-4 victory.
“He didn’t make a lot of mistakes that I thought he was going to do,” Alcaraz said. “So I was, you know, confusing a little bit. I didn’t know how to manage that, how to deal with it.
“I couldn’t increase my level. I think my level stayed at the same point all the match, and it wasn’t enough to win the match or to give myself the chance to get into the match or try to give myself chances.”
The 21-year-old, who won the first of his four Grand Slam titles at the US Open in 2022 as he made a meteoric rise to number one in the world, said it’s not the first time he’s felt unable to take control of a match.
He sounded frustrated that he hasn’t figured out how to solve the problem.
“I’m thinking right now that I’m not changing, and that’s the problem,” he said. “So I have to think about it, I have to learn about it.”
Alcaraz, who swept past 24-time Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic in the Wimbledon final then fell to the Serbian star in the Paris Olympics final, refused to blame the jam-packed schedule for a dip in energy.
“I took a little break after the Olympic Games. I thought it was enough. Probably it wasn’t enough. Probably I came here without as much energy as I thought I was going to (have).
“I don’t want to put that as an excuse. I have to think about it and I have to learn about it.”
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