Despite working hard mentally during the off-season, Carlos Alcaraz continues to have many ups and downs during the matches and throughout the season. The former world No. 1 alternates moments of impressive tennis with sharp declines that cause surprising defeats, such as the one against Jiri Lehecka in the quarterfinals of the Doha ATP 500 last week.
The Spanish ace had overturned the inertia of that match thanks to a vehement reaction in the second set and led a break in the third set, before suffering a streak of four consecutive games that allowed the Czech to enter the semifinals.
The 4-time Grand Slam champion missed a real chance to win his second title of 2025 after Rotterdam and to get even closer to Alexander Zverev in the ATP rankings, after the German was prematurely eliminated in both Buenos Aires and Rio de Janeiro.
Carlitos can still improve
The 21-year-old from Murcia resumed practice yesterday and will fly to Puerto Rico on Thursday, where he will play an exhibition match with Frances Tiafoe on March 2nd before defending his title in Indian Wells.
The current world number 3 has prevailed in the last two editions of the prestigious Masters 1000 in California, defeating Daniil Medvedev in the final in both 2023 and 2024.
In the latest edition of the ‘Nothing Major’ podcast, Steve Johnson highlighted how Carlitos still needs to improve a lot in certain aspects: “Carlos did a really good job against Lehecka in Doha, wasn’t playing his best tennis, has a 4-2 lead in the third to go up double break and then, about seven and a half minutes later, he has lost serve twice and the match is over. It is something we haven’t seen from those top guys.
When Roger Federer got a lead, the door is closed, it’s over. When Rafa Nadal got a lead, it’s over. I just think his everyday game sometimes fluctuates too much for somebody when he is at his best is the best player in the world.”
Tennis World USA