"I didn't arrive at my best" - Alcaraz takes blame for Spain's Davis Cup defeat to Canada
ATP
Carlos Alcaraz took all the blame for Spain's loss at the 2022 Davis Cup Finals after failing to record a win.
In their first tie, without Alcaraz, Spain beat Serbia 3-0. That meant they had a huge chance to secure their Davis Cup Finals spot against Canada, but they failed short, thanks to Felix Auger-Alissime's heroics.
Alcaraz arrived in Valencia not long ago after a lengthy and exhausting stay in New York. He won his first Grand Slam title at the 2022 US Open and became the ATP World No. 1 player, but his first match as a top-ranked player wasn't ideal.
In the first match of Spain's tie against Canada, Roberto Bautista Agut beat Vasek Pospisil despite losing the first set. The Spaniard won the match 3-6, 6-3, 6-3, giving his nation a "match point" against Canada.
Who better to seal the tie than the reigning World No. 1 player, but despite winning the first set against Auger-Aliassime, Alcaraz lost the match in three sets, 7-6(3), 4-6, 2-6.
On top of that, Auger-Aliassime then dressed up to compete in doubles as well. He teamed up with Pospisil, and the duo beat Marcel Granollers and Pedro Martinez 4-6, 6-4, 7-5 to win the tie against Spain.
After the loss, Alcaraz was very self-critical. He admitted that he didn't have enough time to adapt, but he wanted to play because he wanted to represent Spain.
"I didn't arrive at my best. I only had two days to adapt my game to the court, but I wanted to be here representing Spain and share this moment as number one with friends and family and also with the team."
Alcaraz will still have a chance to secure a spot in the knockout stage for his country. If Spain wants to advance, they need to win their last tie against South Korea.
