Carlos Alcaraz hurt by online criticism: “I see a lot of the comments that the people give to you”

Carlos Alcaraz hurt by online criticism: “I see a lot of the comments that the people give to you”Twelve months later, we understand the truth behind those last three words. Nothing looks quite as easy as it did back then for Alcaraz. Over the past year, he did win his first Wimbledon title, but he also endured a series of reality checks and teachable moments.

Alcaraz learned the limits of his exuberant physicality when he cramped and lost to Sinner in Miami and Novak Djokovic at Roland Garros. He showed that, when his game isn’t clicking, he can fall to opponents as unheralded as Fabian Marozsan and Roman Safiullin. And he hasn’t won a tournament since last July.

All of it, Alcaraz admitted on Sunday, was finally enough to darken his famously sunny disposition during the South America swing in February.

“It was difficult months for me,” Alcaraz said. “My confidence go down a little bit, and I have been struggling during the practice every day, try to keep my confidence high or as high as I can. Trying to be myself every day.”

Alcaraz doesn’t seem to have a problem focusing on the process, as they say, rather than the results.

“I’m not looking to losses or winning,” he says. “I’m looking in every match how I feel, how I hit the ball, how I move.”

“For me, it’s about feelings.”

A year ago, Carlos Alcaraz walked out of the California desert as the undisputed future of men’s tennis, and a certified sporting phenomenon. The teenager had just won his first Indian Wells title without dropping a set, and had dispatched two of his main rivals, Jannik Sinner and Daniil Medvedev, in the semis and final without much trouble. By the time it was over, he was the No. 1 player in the world again.

“I would say this has been the perfect tournament,” Alcaraz said. No one accused him of exaggerating.

The sky seemed to the limit on the number of major titles Alcaraz would win in the coming decades—10, 20, 30? But even as a 19-year-old, he seemed to understand there would be tougher days ahead. Before he left, he gave us a hint of the more difficult reality below the gleaming surface of his young career.

“I did perfect today,” Alcaraz said after ending Medvedev’s 19-match win streak in the final. “That’s why it looks so easy, but it wasn’t.”