Carlos Alcaraz has outlined his next steps ahead of the US Open after losing at the Cincinnati Open.
The 21-year-old’s preparation for the final Grand Slam of the season has not been ideal as he suffered his second loss in succession including the final of the Olympic Games.
It did not come as a surprise that Alcaraz lost to Novak Djokovic in Paris, but few people expected him to lose his opening match in Ohio.
Despite taking the opening set, Alcaraz lost his rain-affected contest to Gael Monfils, which took place over two days.
What does Carlos Alcaraz plan to do ahead of the US Open?
Carlos Alcaraz smashed his racket in the third set of his match with Monfils as he tried to improve his level of play.
The Spaniard usually controls the vast majority of his matches but he was unable to put away Monfils, who battled back to win 6-4, 6-7(5), 4-6.
Alcaraz described his performance as the worst of his career, and he is looking to quickly put it behind him ahead of trying to win the US Open for the second time.
“It’s going to be difficult to find some good stuff from this match so I want to forget it and move on to New York,” he said.
“I will move to New York and try to practice well and get used to those courts and I will try and forget this match because I think it was impossible to get any good things from this match.”
Will Carlos Alcaraz play again before the US Open?
There are other tournaments taking place in the week leading up to the US Open such as the Winston-Salem Open.
This would be another opportunity for Alcaraz to get some game time on the hard courts before competing at Flushing Meadows.
But as it stands, the World number three has no plans to play again before competing in the final Grand Slam of the year.
“I just [tried] not to think about the match last night. I just want to recover as best as I can, to have a good rest and be ready for today’s match,” Alcaraz said.
“Yesterday, I didn’t play well as well. I think yesterday the longest rally was five balls. So I couldn’t get feelings yesterday. So I just thought that, ‘Well, have some rest, and tomorrow it’s gonna be another day. I’m probably going to feel better.’ But it didn’t happen.”
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Source: Tampa Bay Times
