Carlos Alcaraz: "I put additional pressure on myself, I didn't prepare myself well for that match"

Carlos Alcaraz has admitted that he put additional pressure on himself heading into the clash with Novak Djokovic at the French Open.

The semifinal match between Alcaraz and Djokovic at the 2023 Ronald Garros was one of the most anticipated matches of the tournament and even the season. The top two ATP players had only met once before, in 2022, when Alcaraz emerged victorious.

When they met in Paris earlier this month, Alcaraz and Djokovic started strong and traded blows regularly. The Serbian took the first set before the Spaniard bounced back and leveled the proceedings in the second.

However, the match took an unexpected turn when Alcaraz suffered from cramps at 1-1 in the third set. He got some medical attention and tried his best to recover, but failed. In the end, he lost 6-3, 5-7, 6-1, 6-1.

Looking back at the match, Alcaraz stated that there was nothing wrong with him physically and admitted that he didn't have the best of preparations heading into the contest.

"Physically I was perfectly fine. The problem was that I put additional pressure on myself. I didn't prepare myself well for that match; the first two sets demanded a lot from me and if we add the tensions that I put on immediately afterwards, in the end, what happened to all of us happened you saw," he told L'Equipe (via Punto de Break).

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Carlos Alcaraz's physio on defeat to Novak Djokovic: "Mental tension has been more noticeable"

Carlos Alcaraz at the 2023 French Open.

After Carlos Alcaraz's defeat to Novak Djokovic, the Spaniard's physiotherapist Juanjo Moreno shed light on what happened by stating that there was a visible mental tension heading into the contest.

“It happens to many athletes in the press room, for example. Carlos has always managed this very well. In the warm-up [before the match] we were enjoying ourselves, having a good time. But when you get closer to the game, nerves appear, tension, and on this occasion perhaps the mental tension has been more noticeable than at any other time,” he stated, as per COPE.

Moreno said that Alcaraz got treatment after the defeat and was completely fine.

“After the game I have been treating Carlos and his body is fine, the musculature is in order,” he said.

He also stated that while the defeat was a bitter pill to swallow, it was also a learning experience for the 20-year-old.

“We are scr*wed. A defeat always hurts. It is difficult to accept, but we always say that it is not a defeat, but rather a learning experience,” he added.

With the claycourt season behind him, Carlos Alcaraz will now gear up for the grasscourt swing ahead of the Wimbledon Championships by taking part in the Queen's Club Championships in London.