The roller coaster of Alcaraz, between “very good” tournaments and other “really bad” ones

Carlos Alcaraz started the year with a hammer blow and, in the absence of the complementary event of the Davis Cup, a separate chapter from Malaga, he ends it exactly the same and facing the same scourge: Alexander Zverev. In between, two wonderful episodes at Roland Garros and Wimbledon, in addition to the successes in Indian Wells and Beijing, but between one extreme and the other, from the dawn of Melbourne to this unwanted closure of Turin, the unstoppable arm of the German. “He has a super serve, he subtracts everything and plays long rallies very well. “It’s very hard, and even more so when you have confidence like now,” says the Murcian, defeated (7-6(5) and 6-4, in 1h 57m) and, consequently, already eliminated from this Masters Cup that started awry. for him and it ends the same way. Defeat and goodbye in the group stage.

Alcaraz arrived at the tournament between handkerchiefs, snot and cotton, with a good cold that has softened but has not yet subsided, and he leaves it with rage and monumental anger, the one expressed on the court during the duel against Zverev. Once the first partial was delivered, he slammed his racket against the bag and fingers to his temple, asking himself for explanations. There is no outburst that is worth it. There is no number that will save you. No need to use the calculator this time. Last year they overcame the initial setback, but this time, there is no turning back: three games, two defeats and ciao. Before Casper Ruud and Andrey Rublev intervene in the night shift – 6-4, 5-7 and 6-2 in favor of the Nordic -, he has already left the master meeting and heads to the locker room very angry.

The Murcian then releases, in those pedal strokes on the bike, the frustration accumulated over the last week. Elusive luck. He landed hungry and well, without any accident to the chassis, but the virus got in the way and he has not been able to complete the comeback. “In the second set, at 15-40, I was not prepared, I was not consistent in those moments and it has happened to me in some games. I have to work to be more consistent. I have to improve it,” he says, aware that the duel has escaped him in a couple of turns, even though the incessant storm proposed by Zverev, a service machine, has ended up taking him away.

The Masters format allows restarts in the same way that it greatly penalizes skids. The Spaniard slipped against Ruud and access to the semi-finals vanished, the level he reached a year ago, so despite having improved his performance compared to last year in the final quarter, another blow of the screw is imposed. “This season I have had very good tournaments and some really bad ones. And I want to give myself the opportunity to win in each one, although I am still very young. [21] and those types of things take years to achieve,” he points out to journalists, while speaking about the need to reach this area mentally fresher.

Rafa, above Davis

“It is a goal. “Every player wants to be in the final or go as far as they can,” he emphasizes. And for this, he continues, “the main solution is training, so that it does not cost you to do hours and continue maintaining the same level as at the beginning, what is necessary and what is correct each day. “I have a very professional team that has been through this with other players, and Juan Carlos has been, so he has a much clearer vision.” Given what we have seen, this was not his tournament, so Spanish men’s tennis will rewind again next year to remember that Àlex Corretja was the last representative to be crowned in the master tournament.

For example, Nadal did not achieve it in 11 participations, with the finals of 2010 (Roger Federer) and 2013 (Novak Djokovic) as the limit. Notable tennis players such as Mats Wilander or Jim Courier, or others who reached the top of the circuit such as Yevgueni Káfelnikov, Carlos Moyá, Marat Safin, Andy Roddick or his coach, Juan Carlos Ferrero, did not succeed either; in the 2002 final he bowed to Lleyton Hewitt. For now, Alcaraz continues trying to unravel the mystery of the tournament and adapt the objectives to the extension of the calendar, since he has understood that the season does not end in September and that from then on there are also incentives.

Like a motorcycle during the spring and into the summer, the erosion of the Olympic Games diminished his vigor and the defeat against Nole took its toll on his mood, although he later regained his flight with his passage through the group stage of the Davis Cup, the Laver Cup of Berlin and the Asian tour, in which he won the title in Beijing and was one step away from Shanghai. That is to say, the curve reflects a progression, but with few exceptions, players arrive at the Masters Cup with their tongues hanging out and, generally, short on mental fuel. This is what he admitted three days ago: “It happens to all of us, it’s just that some handle it better. I’m mentally tired. I have to find a way to perform and play good tennis while being mentally tired,” he stressed after losing against Ruud. The reaction against Rublev was ultimately of little use because Zverev ultimately intervened.

The world number two will face Taylor Fritz today (14.30, Movistar+) and Sinner will start as a favorite against Ruud (20.30), while Alcaraz heads to Malaga to tackle the Davis. Davis or Rafael Nadal’s farewell? He answers bluntly, without hesitation: “It is a tournament that I want to win, the most important that I will play throughout my career, and the fact that Rafa is there will make it more special. Being able to represent your country in any field is very special. I am going to try to contribute for myself, for Spain and for Rafa, who is the player who most deserves to end his legendary career with a title. For me, Rafa’s farewell is much more important. Davis there is every year, but a figure like Rafa, unfortunately, there is only one.”