Carlos Alcaraz To Struggle With 'Inconsistencies' For Rest Of His Career Says Former No. 1

Tuesday, 01 April 2025 at 14:07

byErik Virostko

Carlos Alcaraz might be incredibly exciting to watch, but he is also inconsistent, something that Mats Wilander thinks will stay with him for the rest of his career.

Alcaraz is already a four-time Grand Slam champion at 21. He's also a former ATP World No. 1 player. In fact, he was the youngest-ever man in the history of the sport to reach that rank.

But despite the incredible start to his tennis career, the young Spaniard has struggled on the tennis courts in recent months. The peak of his struggles came at the Miami Open, where he lost to David Goffin in his first match.

Alcaraz has always been a player who can produce a spectacular moment at one moment and then an unforced error soon after, but the gap between his best and worst levels seems to be getting wider, which is why his inconsistency has been exposed recently.

Former ATP World No. 1, who also enjoyed plenty of success in the early days of his tennis career, Mats Wilander, recently talked about Alcaraz to TNT Sports, saying that the Spaniard will likely struggle with consistency for the rest of his tennis career.

"I think Carlos Alcaraz is going through what Carlos Alcaraz will be going through for the rest of his career, which is that there are going to be inconsistencies."

"He's going to pull off some miracles at times, and then those miracles are going to help him win matches, and he's going to pull off miracles at different times, and he's not going to win the match in the end."

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"But obviously, if you lose the result against Jack Draper, the way that it happened is very weird for a top player. But I do think in the end, Carlos Alcaraz is going to be quite inconsistent in terms of results. We're so used to not seeing a former world No. 1 and most probably a future world No. 1 to be that inconsistent."

Although Wilander thinks that Alcaraz will be inconsistent during his career, he also doesn't write him off when it comes to the upcoming major. The Spaniard will be the defending champion at the French Open, and Wilander thinks he can win again.

"Well, he can bounce back at any time. That's the thing about Carlos Alcaraz. He could bounce back within two weeks because of the way he plays tennis. Even though he won the French Open last year, I'm not sure clay is his best surface, but it wouldn't surprise me at all if he goes and wins the French Open again, and does a repeat, because that's the quality that he brings."

"I'm just saying that I think these results will happen here and there. Unfortunately, they have been happening in some Grand Slam tournaments. But I do think it's more in the regular tournaments that Carlos Alcaraz will have problems and I do think that he will bounce back and do well at the French Open."