The season of Carlos Alcaraz has been characterized by ups and downs until this moment. The former number 1 in the world won the Indian Wells Masters 1000 and achieved outstanding results during the summer – winning the French Open and the Wimbledon Championships – followed by some very disappointing defeats.
Carlos Alcaraz & Novak Djokovic, 2024 Paris OlympicsĀ© Stream screenshot
After losing the final of the Paris Olympics to Novak Djokovic, the young Spaniard expressed a very negative tennis performance at both the Cincinnati Masters 1000 and the US Open. In the seasonās final Grand Slam tournament, the 21-year-old from Murcia was defeated by three sets to zero by Dutch Botic van de Zandschulp at the iconic Arthur Ashe Stadium.
The four-time Grand Slam champion was very disappointed at the end of that match and admitted he still had to work a lot mentally. Despite winning two Majors and a Masters 1000 in 2024, Carlitos is over 4000 points away from Jannik Sinner in the ATP ranking. The consistency of the Italian ace is making a difference at this time and the Spanish will have to train to improve in this respect. Nobody doubts the qualities of Alcaraz, who has a crazy repertoire for a player his age, but the ups and downs are still too many to be able to return to the top of the ATP ranking.
Carlitos will play at the MSG
Carlitos is playing the Davis Cup this week, before heading to Berlin for the 2024 edition of the Laver Cup (which will also feature his compatriot Rafael Nadal). Meanwhile, it was just announced that the former World No.1 will play an exhibition match against Ben Shelton at the Madison Square Garden in New York on December 4th. In the same event, American star Jessica Pegula will face Emma Navarro.
JUST ANNOUNCED: Tennis returns to The Garden on Dec 4 with The Garden Cup featuring matchups between Carlos Alcaraz vs. Ben Shelton & Jessica Pegula vs. Emma Navarro. Access venue presale tickets starting tomorrow, Fri, Sep 13 at 10am with code SOCIAL. pic.twitter.com/sa2fFWwkNu
ā MSG (@TheGarden) September 12, 2024
On his official Instagram account, top coach Patrick Mouratoglou revealed Alcarazās main problem at this point of his career: “He put everything, mentally, emotionally, of course, physically and tennis-wise, on the table to win them, because it’s got counted so much. And when it counts so much for you, emotionally, it’s draining. He was exhausted, mentally exhausted.
He’s very, very emotional. We’ve seen him cramp many times already. If you look at Roger, Rafa, and Novak, have you seen them cramp once in a match? All their careers? He cramped many times already, only at 20. He’s an emotional player. So I think that knowing that, in the future, they will have to think of a calendar where he has enough restāmental rest, not physical restāmental rest. I think it is very important for his future.ā
The Spanish ace will try to close his 2024 well, although he has often struggled in this part of the season. The former world number 1 does not express his best tennis on the indoor hard court and his body tends to have problems in the last months of the year. In his latest piece on āEl Paisā, top coach Toni Nadal reflected on Alcarazās status and recent Jannik Sinnerās rise: āWith the victory of Sinner on the menās side, we can also credit more than ever what was already an obvious rivalry with our great champion, Carlos Alcaraz.
With Sundayās victory, Sinner won his second major of the year, equaling the annual record of the Spanish player and practically assuring himself of finishing the year as No 1 in world tennis. If I may go back to Alcaraz, since he is the one we care about, I must say that I still enjoy his game more ā I like him even more, but also admit and fear that the notorious improvement of the current leader, especially at a mental level, will make things really difficult for him. The rivalry, definitely, is served.ā
Few points to defend
The current world number 3 is almost two years younger than Sinner and will try to become the youngest ever to win 5 Majors at the upcoming Australian Open. Carlos will have to recharge his energy during the off-season and find a way to be more regular throughout the season.
Sinner AlcarazĀ© ATP Tour X account
Jannik showed incredible consistency in 2024, losing just five matches in the entire season and making a difference on the hard court. Alcaraz will also have to limit the number of his accidents, which affected him especially in the first months of 2024. The Spanish aceĀ will not have to defend many points in the coming months, since last year he did not shine after losing the final in Cincinnati against Novak Djokovic. His best results were the semi-final in Beijing and the semifinal at the ATP Finals in Turin, which he lost to Djokovic.