Carlos Alcaraz repeatedly smashed his racket on the court in a rare show of frustration on Friday, and the four-time Grand Slam winner fell to Gael Monfils 4-6, 7-6 (7-5), 6-4 at the Cincinnati Open.
In a match that was suspended by rain on Thursday night with the players in a second-set tiebreaker, the 37-year-old Monfils advanced by taking the last two sets from the second-seeded Alcaraz, who called the loss his “worst match.”
“I felt like it was the worst match that I’ve ever played on my career,” Alcaraz said. “I’ve been practicing really well. I was feeling great. But I couldn’t play. I want to forget it and try to move on to New York.”
Trailing 3-1 in the tiebreaker when the match was halted, Alcaraz was hoping for a reset when play resumed Friday. But, the No. 3 player in the ATP rankings wasn’t able to control his emotions. “It never happened before because I could control those feelings,” Alcaraz said.
“Today I couldn’t. I was feeling that I was not playing any kind of tennis. It was really frustrating for me. At some point, I didn’t want to be on the court anymore.”
