Carlos Alcaraz was stunned in the second round of the 2024 Cincinnati Open by a very inspired Gael Monfils.
The Spaniard competed in his first hard-court contest since March and his first match at any event since losing to Novak Djokovic in the gold medal match at the Olympic Games.
Alcaraz enjoyed an incredible few months after winning the French Open and Wimbledon before securing a silver medal at the Olympics. However, he does not feel he played his best tennis in many of his victories.
Monfils praised Alcaraz before their meeting in Cincinnati. The 37-year-old said the four-time Grand Slam champion is already a legend and is the same as Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, and Roger Federer.
The Frenchman, a worldwide fan favorite for many years due to his entertaining style, defeated last week's Canadian Open champion, Alexei Popyrin, in the opening round. That meant Alcaraz could not afford to be complacent.
Monfils started well in his opening service game, but his opponent hit a double fault on his first point on serve. The French veteran may have been hopeful that Alcaraz was having an off day.
Unfortunately for Monfils, the Spaniard won 19 consecutive points on serve after that. Alcaraz was hitting his spots excellently before backing it up with a blistering next shot when Monfils managed to get the ball back into play.
The Frenchman played a loose service game at 1-1, getting broken after a double fault at 15-40. The two-time Grand Slam semifinalist played well in his following three service games of the set, but it was too late to make a comeback.
Alcaraz was one point away from winning 20 consecutive points in the opening set at 5-4, 40-0 up, before losing three successive points to end that streak. It did not cost him the set, though, claiming the following two points to take it 6-4.
Monfils, watched by his wife and fellow player Elina Svitolina, started the second set positively. He held from 15-30 down in the first set and then applied pressure on Alcaraz's serve for the first time at 3-2.
The 37-year-old hit some blistering shots to go 0-40 up after Alcaraz finally gave him a few chances on serve. However, Monfils could not take four chances to break after some composed tennis under pressure from the Wimbledon champion.
It was the Spaniard's turn to pile on the pressure at 4-4. Monfils found himself staring down the barrel at 15-40 down but produced two big serves to get himself out of trouble, eventually holding to lead 5-4.
The second set was eventually decided in a tie-break. However, when Monfils led 3-1, the match was suspended due to rain, and it didn't continue after 18 hours later the following day, when players returned to the courts in Cincinnati again.
The winner of this match would have to play another match on the same day, so finishing quickly was likely the main priority for both, but especially, the 21-year-old, who was six points away from winning the match.
However, he couldn't do that, as Monfils was the better player in the tie-break, winning it 7-5 to force the decider on the quick courts in Cincinnati.
It was maybe the quickness of the courts that Alcaraz couldn't deal with in the third set, as he played some of his worst tennis this year. The Spanish player couldn't find the court, resulting in a break of serve to go down 1-3.
On top of that, the World No. 3 couldn't use four break point chances that he had in the final set, and his frustration was obvious when he destroyed his racket, something rarely seen from Alcaraz.
Monfils, on the other hand, remained focused on his job, and that was winning the match, which he ultimately managed to do, winning 4-6, 7-6(5), 6-4 to set up a third-round match with Holger Rune.
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