Carlos Alcaraz has claimed that it is a “mistake” to expect him to win every tournament. The world No 2 had a hugely successful first half of the year, picking up six trophies, but has not lifted any since Wimbledon. Despite his recent lack of titles, Alcaraz is still taking the positives from some of his runs and shut down suggestions that he always needed to win.
Alcaraz is still fighting for a spot in the semi-final of the ATP Finals, having a 1-1 record so far in the round-robin stage. The Spaniard is hoping to end the year on a high after a difficult few weeks which saw him go on a three-match losing run for the first time since March 2021.
Following losses in his opening match at the Paris Masters and the round-of-16 in Shanghai, Alcaraz’s defeat to Zverev in his first round-robin match of the ATP Finals put him on a worrying streak but he quickly ended it by beating Andrey Rublev on Wednesday. Reflecting on his recent dip in form, Alcaraz said it wasn’t a failure as he hit back at claims that he had to win every tournament.
“Well, I try not to think about it,” he said of his recently struggles. “The American swing was a good swing for me. Even if I didn’t take any title, I did a quarter-finals, a finals against Novak in Cincinnati was a pretty good job, and semi-final of a Grand Slam in US Open.
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“I don’t take that as a failure. Probably everybody, well, knows that I have to win every title or every tournament. I think that’s a mistake.” However, the two-time Grand Slam champion still conceded that the last few weeks had been difficult.
He continued: “For me, as I said, I’ve been struggling the last few months. Probably the Asian swing, Shanghai, probably those tournaments were not good tournaments for me. That’s a shame for me, to end the year in that way.
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“I’m trying not to think about those tournaments, about the last losses. I am trying to take the positive things, the negative things, and put [them] into the practice and be better in these few matches that I have had.”
Alcaraz will try to do just that when he faces Medvedev in his last round-robin match on Friday. It will be a shot at revenge for the 20-year-old, who lost to the world No 3 in their most recent meeting in the US Open semi-final. Medvedev is already through to the semi-final and Alcaraz still had a shot at joining him if he can win their match.
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