Walking away from his ninth straight tournament without a trophy in his bag, Carlos Alcaraz says that he needs to find the best version of his game when the chips are down in the big matches.
The top seed fell 7-6(2), 6-3 to third seed Nicolas Jarry in the Buenos Aires semi-finals Saturday night, extending a title drought that stretches back seven months to when he won an epic five-set Wimbledon final against Novak Djokovic to retain his then hold on the No. 1 Pepperstone ATP Ranking.
“It's a difficult defeat, it hurt me a lot,” Alcaraz said of the loss to Jarry, who will move to a career-high No. 17 if he wins the title Sunday. “There are many things to improve, and my level has to go up. I played good tennis but very far from my real level.
“I felt good physically and it's important, and I think that with work I will get better... but having opportunities, is difficult.
“The positive thing is that I see that I have a lot of things to improve. Learning that I have to read the matches better, to give my best version in the moments of tension. Today I lacked that in the 0-30, in the break-points, to be able to play differently there.”
Alcaraz was largely untouchable on serve in the first set but couldn’t convert a 0/30 chance and two 15/30 chances on the Chilean’s serve according to Infosys ATP MatchBeats. And in the second set he broke in the first game only to immediately hand back the lead. In the final game of the match Alcaraz let slip two break points chances to extend the match.
“It is true that expectations are generated in me in the tournaments where I go... maybe people think that I have to win every match, but Jarry has a level that can beat anyone,” Alcaraz said.
“It's a shame to see that I haven't improved some things in my concentration since 2023. There's no other way, it's something pending, and my level of play is based on the level of attitude and energy I'm in. The year is still very long, many things can still happen, and we will see how it goes on.”
The 20-year-old now finds himself in danger of surrendering the World No. 2 spot in coming weeks to a surging Jannik Sinner, who will move to a career-high No. 3 ahead of Daniil Medvedev if he wins Sunday’s Rotterdam ATP 500 title against Alex de Minaur.
Alcaraz now heads to the ATP 500 in Rio de Janeiro, where he will face Brazil's Thiago Monteiro in the first round.
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