Carlos Alcaraz talked with some regret about losing his way in big moments in his defeat to Russia's Daniil Medvedev in the US Open semi-final.
Going into this matchup, Alcaraz held all the cards to victory based on a lot of their previous meetings. The Spaniard won a rather comfortable match in Indian Wells earlier this season, and backed that up with a second win versus Medvedev at Wimbledon.
Alcaraz had won all of the last five sets played against the Russian, and in those matches he serve and volleyed in style, exposed Medvedev's default setting of a rather reactive court position and utilised his trusted drop shot to great effect in addition.
This semi-final defeat at the US Open changed things, mainly because of how Medvedev surprisingly learned his lessons from a tactical standpoint, was more proactive in rallies and competed for dominant court position a bit better. But Alcaraz looked shell-shocked when he was being put under more pressure.
With that being said, Alcaraz showed some signs of being very effective in the forecourt, but lost his way far too much in the heat of the battle in the first set tiebreak. He shed light on those pivotal moments afterwards.
"Well, I think I started the match pretty well. It was a close set. In the tiebreak, you know, after 3 all in the tiebreak, I, let's say, lose my mind. I make three or four points without control. I totally lose my mind on that set, and fighting for 50 minutes and then for four points I lose my mind. It was really tough for me to handle it."
Alcaraz also mentioned how well Medvedev did play. The Russian very much fed off the confidence gained from the first set, and was executing his tennis superbly at times from that moment on.
"Obviously Daniil he was playing great. It was tough for me to come back in the match and play a great game again."
Alcaraz may have suffered a surprising defeat, but these losses can very much shape the player for future challenges that lie ahead in their career. This for Alcaraz is just another one of those setbacks.
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