Carlos Alcaraz is being very vocally critical of his mentality after a few recent disappointments, and it's interesting to observe.
Generally, players are not particularly open about their struggles, remaining mostly vague in interviews. Alcaraz is taking quite a different approach, being forward in what he's been doing wrong in his matches and what needs to change.
He wasn't happy with the way he handled the match against Daniil Medvedev at the US Open and he echoed similar sentiments after the match against Jannik Sinner at the 2023 China Open.
It's clear that Alcaraz is dealing with some issues when things go south in matches. He's not known for it but he understands that it needs to change. In a recent talk with Tennis TV ahead of the 2023 Shanghai Masters, Alcaraz opened up about his mentality.
I always say that mentality is the toughest part to practice, but at the same time it's the most important thing if you want to be the best in tennis. I try to work in every practice, in every tournament that I go to, and learn from things that I was not doing great.
Alcaraz is right because the mental side is something Novak Djokovic has been praised for ages. He's been able to remain as good as his mostly due to being almost unshakable in matches, and Alcaraz aspires to get there.
He didn't do that against Sinner recently, and he needs to do that if he hopes to be as good as he hopes to be one day. He won't win all matches, but he can't give up as soon as things stop going well, and we've been seeing that lately.
For example the last match against Jannik, I said I was out of my mind in the second set, so this is something that I have to work on. I have to work to be strong enough to play on the same level and don't have up and downs.
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