Carlos Alcaraz sensationally admitted that he feels like he is “not changing” after crashing out in the second round of the US Open.
World No 3 and reigning French Open and Wimbledon champion Alcaraz came into New York as one of the favourites for the title, looking to add to his 2022 US Open triumph.
However, in one of the biggest upsets in tournament history, the former world No 1 was comprehensively outplayed in a 6-1, 7-5, 6-4 loss to Botic van de Zandschulp on Arthur Ashe Stadium.
It was a scintillating performance from the world No 74, who claimed just the second top-five win of his performance in convincing fashion.
But it was a messy performance from Alcaraz, who was broken six times across the match and hit 27 errors compared to just 21 winners.
And the 21-year-old pulled no punches post-match.
In a brutal press conference, he admitted that he is “not changing” and is failing to learn from past defeats.
He said: “There was a lot of emotions I couldn’t control, it was kind of up in some points, then I lose in some points and it gets down.
“It was like a rollercoaster in my mind – it can be like that if I want to think about big things. I have to improve it, I have to learn about it.
“There’s a few matches that I’ve felt like that, where – after every match that I felt like that – I always said the same: I said to learn about it, I have to think about it. If I’m feeling what I’m thinking right now, I’m not changing. That’s the problem.
“If I’m going to sit here after the matches that I feel or I felt like that I couldn’t deal with it, that I couldn’t change the match, couldn’t push up a little bit and say I have to think about it, I have to learn about it, I’m never going to change. It’s going to be really tough if I want to improve, so I can’t say much about it.
“It was a fight against myself, my mind, during the match. In tennis, you are playing against someone who wants the same as you – to win the match.
“You have to be as much calm as you can, you have to think better during the match and try to do good things. Today I was playing against the opponent and I was playing against myself, in my mind.”
Defeat for Alcaraz comes after a summer that has become more increasingly difficult for him.
Initially, he was flying high after triumphs at Roland Garros and Wimbledon, though has now lost three of his past four matches.
The Spaniard was beaten in the Olympic Games final to Novak Djokovic and then lost his opening match at the Cincinnati Open to Gael Monfils, before his round two defeat in New York.
Defeat also means that, at best, he will stay as world No 3 after the US Open, with Alexander Zverev guaranteed to move ahead of him in the ATP Rankings.
Daniil Medvedev and Novak Djokovic could also leapfrog him with runs to the title.
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