Alcaraz destroys racket, calls Cincinnati loss to Monfils “the worst match that I ever played”

Carlos Alcaraz losing tennis matches is rare. Losing his cool is even more infrequent.

Both things happened during Alcaraz’s match against Gael Monfils at the Western & Southern Open on Friday afternoon. The 21-year-old smashed his racket on the ground four times while trailing by a break in the third set and he was eventually upset 4-6, 7-6 (5), 6-4.

Alcaraz led by a set when play was postponed by rain on Thursday night. However, he was a different player — including mentally — a day later. Monfils closed out the second set in a tiebreak and needed just one break in the third to pull off the stunning result.

In an unusual instance of rage, Alcaraz showed his frustration down 3-1 in the decider.

I felt like it was the worst match that I ever played in my career.

Carlos Alcaraz

The Spaniard’s opinion of his level of play may have contributed to the outburst. In fact, afterward he called it “the worst match that I ever played.”

“I felt like it was the worst match that I ever played in my career,” he said during his press conference. “A[I] couldn’t play. Honestly, I’ve been practising really well here in this tournament. The previous days, I was feeling great, hitting the ball clear, moving well. I don’t know what happened. I don’t know how I felt like this, but I couldn’t control myself. I couldn’t be better. So this match, it was impossible to win.

“It’s kind of really difficult to find some good stuff from this match. So I want to forget it, and try to move on to New York. I’ll go to New York and I’ll try to practice well, to get used to those courts. And I will forget this match, because I think it is impossible to get any good things about this match.”

With Novak Djokovic not playing in Cincinnati and therefore losing 1000 points from last year’s title, Alcaraz had a golden chance to climb to No 2 in the world and snag the second seed in New York. Instead, he will be seeded third behind Jannik Sinner and Djokovic.

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