Carlos Alcaraz ended his 2024 US Open with a shocking loss, explaining after the match that he simply needed to do better to avoid similar mistakes in the future.
The US Open as a Grand Slam started exceptionally well for Alcaraz because he played great the first time he competed at Flushing Meadows. He then won the trophy in 2022 but couldn't defend it last year when he was the favorite.
Still, it wasn't as big of a failure as this year because she reached a semi-final, at least. This time around, he lost in the second round to a player he easily bested the last time they played.
In fairness, Botic van de Zandschulp played an incredible match, but the story of the match wasn't his play. It was Alcaraz's inability to find any solutions throughout the entirety of the match.
He was on the back foot for much of the match after getting crushed in the opening set 1-6. The Spaniard seemingly looked unsure of what to do or how to approach the match, and his box didn't provide any answers either.
It was just a lot of very confused looks back and forth between them. When asked by the media whether he knew what to do, Alcaraz confirmed that he was unsure and that it wasn't the first time either.
He simply has to learn from those experiences, which he isn't doing right now. He doesn't adapt well when things go wrong, and that is not a good approach long-term.
"Well I’ve felt like that in a few matches. After every match I felt like that, I always say the same. ‘I have to learn about it. I have to think about it.’ What I’m thinking right now is I’m not changing."
"That’s the problem. I couldn’t change the match, or I couldn’t pick myself a little bit… but if I’m never gonna change, it’s gonna be really tough if I want to improve. I can’t say much about it."
Alcaraz clearly was fighting himself for much of the match because, on talent alone, he was the clear favorite. He didn't, partly because his opponent was really good, which forced him to try to find a higher level than the one he was producing.
He couldn't do that, and again, he underlined the need to learn from it. To him, it was a simple process. He needs to learn from his mistakes to get to where he wants to be.
"It was a fight against myself in my mind during the match. In tennis you are playing against someone that wants the same as you. To win. You have to be as calm as you can to think better in the match and try to do good things. Today I was playing against the opponent as well as myself in my mind."
"A lot of emotions I couldn’t control. I was up in some points. Then I’d lose some points and get down. It was a rollercoaster in my mind. It can’t be like that if I want to think about big things. I have to improve it. I have to learn about it."