Paul Annacone, former coach of Roger Federer and current coach of Taylor Fritz, analyzed why Carlos Alcaraz suffered the defeat in the Paris Olympic final against Novak Djokovic. The tears shed by the young Spaniard after the match against the Serbian champion give a clear image of what was the divide of the season of the 4-time Slam champion. Winning the gold medal was a goal that Alcaraz would have liked to achieve already in Paris.
Carlitos had a rather up and down second part of the season. After winning the French Open and Wimbledon Championships and taking the silver medal at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, the Spaniard suffered a painful defeat at the Cincinnati Open against Gael Monfils and an even tougher one in the second round at the US Open against Botic van de Zandschulp.
Then came the victories at the Laver Cup and at the China Open in Beijing, where he defeated Jannik Sinner in the final. In Shanghai and Paris-Bercy, however, Alcaraz disappointed expectations, saying goodbye to the tournaments in the quarterfinals and the round of 16 respectively. Finally, at the Nitto ATP Finals, he failed to break away and reach the semifinals.
“Carlos is a player full of joy. I think he lost a bit of it this year for many reasons. The defeat in the final at Paris 2024 broke his heart a bit and left its mark on the rest of the season,” explained Annacone in an interview with the Tennis Channel’s Inside In podcast.
“He has an incredible mentality and a fantastic team, so there’s no reason why it’s not just a little turbulence along the way. It’s just a blip,” he added.
Annacone called Carlitos’ loss to Nole the turning point in the Spaniard’s season, as he hasn’t been the same player for the rest of the campaign.
“I think just getting a silver medal in Paris, which is a great achievement but not for him, broke his heart a little bit. And I think that affected the rest of the summer and the season as a whole. You have to find what motivates you and stick with it. I think Carlos Alcaraz is a joyful player. I think he’s lost a little bit of that joy this year, for a multitude of reasons,” he explained.
Carlos Alcaraz© cinch Championships/Instagram – Fair Use
The former coach of Pete Sampras and Federer also attacked the system by which the ATP rankings are drawn up. Annacone says he doesn’t really understand the logic by which the rankings are drawn up and cites the example of Alexander Zverev and Carlos Alcaraz.
While Jannik Sinner closed the season as number 1 with a wide margin, winning the Australian Open and the US Open among other tournaments, Alexander Zverev – who did not win any Slam titles – finished in second place while Carlos Alcaraz, two-time Slam champion in Paris and London, finished in third place in the rankings. And this aspect does not go down well with Annacone.
“If you win two Grand Slams in 2024 and you’re not No. 2 in the world at the end of the year, to me that means there’s a problem in the system,” he said on the Tennis Channel’s Inside-In podcast.
The ATP rankings are built on consistency of results obtained. And over the long distance of the entire season, Zverev has been more consistent at the highest level than Alcaraz. Of course, the debate can be endless and everyone can remain of their own opinion. But Annacone, while praising Alexander Zverev’s year, sees an anomaly that needs to be corrected.
“Zverev has had an incredible year. The points don’t lie. He’s played an incredible amount of tennis. But if you win two Majors and you’re not No. 2 in the world, to me that means there’s a problem in the system,” added Annacone.
Sinner was the undisputed No. 1 this year, winning eight titles, including the Australian Open, US Open and ATP Finals, and finishing with 11,830 ranking points. There was a tight battle for second place between Carlos Alcaraz and Alexander Zverev, with the latter finishing the year at No. 2 with 7,915 points while the Spaniard finished third with 7,010 points behind.
We recall that Alcaraz and Sinner played three matches this season, all won by Carlitos. The young Spanish player defeat the Italian rival at the BNP Paribas Open di Indian Wells, at the French Open e in the final of the China Open. Jannik won only the exhibition Six Kings Slams in Riyadh, against the young Spaniard. In the head-to-head, Alcaraz leads 6-4. In 2024, Carlos defeat the Italian two times on outdoor hard-courts and once on clay-courts.