Carlos Alcaraz is 'happy' after his quarter-final exit from the 2024 Australian Open as he wants to focus on the bigger picture of having a good event as opposed to failing short of expectations.
Perspective is everything in life, and depending on how you look at things, the same thing can look very different. Two different things can be true at the same time, which is exactly what this Australian Open represents for Alcaraz.
He's had the best outing ever at the event so far, making the quarter-final, and that's a very good result to start the year as he didn't play any tournaments before it.
He also fell short of his expectations, which is unfortunate, so as you can see, he can be both happy with what he achieved and disappointed in how it concluded. And that's exactly how he's looking at this, after his loss to Alexader Zverev.
"It has been a good tournament for me, making quarterfinals, playing good tennis. I'm sad with my level today, because I have been playing good tennis the round before this one with a lot of confidence. But in general, I leave the tournament happy."
That's a pretty fair stance by Alcaraz because it's true. He played a good event overall but was beaten by a better player in the quarter-final. He recognized after the match that it's not what he came to Melbourne to do, but overall, it's still a good result.
"Forgetting about today's level. But in general I think I did a pretty good tournament, I played great matches. Obviously, quarterfinal of a Grand Slam is good. It's not what I'm looking for, but is not bad, you know. Quarterfinal is a good run."
Disappointment about how it ended is present, though. Coming out and losing the first set 1-6 after the high he rode following the last win was disappointing.
"But as I said, with the level that I was playing before, coming into this match with a lot of confidence, knowing that I'm playing good tennis is, it's a shame that I started the match like the way that I did and ending the way that I did. But it's tennis."