"Trying not to see the comments, but we are not going to hide" - Carlos Alcaraz opens up on handling social media negativity after Indian Wells 4R win

Carlos Alcaraz recently revealed that he has made a conscious effort to avoid reading negative comments on social media.

Alcaraz continued with his revived form as he went past Fabian Marozsan to reach the quarterfinals of the Indian Wells Masters 2024. The defending champion defeated Marozsan 6-3, 6-3 on Tuesday, March 12, in the fourth round after downing the likes of Matteo Arnaldi and Felix Auger-Aliassime previously.

He earned eight break points on Marozsan's serve on Tuesday and converted three. Also, he earned 24 out of the total 63 points against the Hungarian with sublime winners to take another step toward ending his title drought since Wimbledon 2023.

The World No. 2 has notably faced flak from everyone, including the netizens, for failing to produce a title-winning performance after the London Major triumph. He, however, is trying to avoid the negativity as, during his post-win presser on Tuesday, he said:

"I'm trying not to think about it. I'm trying not to see 100 percent the comments, but I think it's something that we are not going to hide from that.

"There are a lot of people who are going to comment good things, bad things, when we are not in the position to control it. But we have to deal in the best way as we can, and that's something that I'm trying to do."

Also, Carlos Alcaraz accepted that destructive criticism can easily demotivate players who are mentally prone to despondency.

"I think it has a really important impact to the players. There are a lot of players who don't think about it or don't affect in a bad way the negative comments, but there are a lot of players who, well, affect very, very, bad, the bad comments," Carlos Alcaraz added.

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Carlos Alcaraz to take on Alexander Zverev in Indian Wells QF

Carlos Alcaraz (L) and Alexander Zverev

Carlos Alcaraz will clash with Alexander Zverev on Thursday, March 14, for a place in the semifinals of the Indian Wells Masters 2024. It is going to be his ninth encounter with the German overall and second in the new season.

He currently trails Zverev 5-3 in terms of head-to-head with his most recent failure coming at the Australian Open in January. Zverev thrashed Alcaraz 6-1, 6-3, 6-7(2), 6-4 in the last-eight match at Melbourne Park. Moreover, their first-ever meeting, which was played at the Acapulco Open 2021, also ended in Zverev's favor.

Zverev notably downed in-form Alex de Minaur 5-7, 6-2, 6-3 in his fourth-round effort at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden. In the previous rounds, he bettered Christopher O'Connell and Tallon Griekspoor.