In the Cincinnati Open’s second round, Carlos Alcaraz shockingly lost to Gaël Monfils, and in his frustration, he repeatedly bashed his racket against the court, bending the frame out of shape while the spectators watched in disbelief.
It happened just before Monfils finished off a 4-6 7-6 (5) 6-4 victory over the 21-year-old athlete, consolidating a break in the third set.
In an Instagram post, Alcaraz apologized for his unexpected behaviour at the courts. He stated in his post caption: “I want to apologise for my attitude yesterday, it was not good and that should not happen on court. I’m human, the nerves had accumulated and sometimes it’s very tough to control when there is that tension. I will work so that it doesn’t happen again. Now it’s time to think about NYC!”
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Worst match of his career
In a press conference, Alcaraz referred to his attitude as a brief loss of composure, and described the match as his worst play in his entire career.
The athlete admitted: “I felt sometimes that I wanted to break the racket… It never happened before, because I could control myself in those situations, in those feelings. Most of the time I could control myself and it could go better in the matches or in the situation that I’ve been feeling before.”
He added: “Today, I couldn’t control myself, because, as I said, I was feeling that I was not playing any kind of tennis … I think some players, a lot of players, during their careers and during some certain moments, they can’t control themselves. And it was one of the moments for me.”
Moreover, with his victory over Daniil Medvedev at Indian Wells in March 2022, Monfils achieved his first win against a player ranked in the top three.
Later the same day, Monfils had to come back on the court for his third-round encounter, losing against Holger Rune with a performance record of 3-6 6-3 6-4.
Source: CNN