"Carlos Alcaraz & Juan Carlos Ferrero need to seriously think is this the way to go mentally?" - Tennis analyst on Spaniard's year-end No. 1 pursuit

Tennis analyst Gill Gross has raised concerns about Carlos Alcaraz's public pursuit of the year-end World No. 1 ranking.

Alcaraz has made no secret of his ambition to regain the World No. 1 position and finish the year at the top of the ATP rankings. During his campaign at the 2023 US Open, the 20-year-old stated his goal of reclaiming the top spot from Novak Djokovic by the end of the year and reiterated this objective over the course of the Asian swing.

The Spaniard recently also expressed disappointment at missing the opportunity to unseat Djokovic from the top spot following his shock fourth-round defeat to Grigor Dimitrov at the Shanghai Masters.

During the latest episode of the 'Monday Match Analysis' podcast, Gill Gross suggested that Carlos Alcaraz needed to decide whether the public declaration of his pursuit of the World No. 1 ranking, particularly during the US Open, was the right choice for his mental well-being.

"At the end of the day, you have to figure out as a player, and as a 20-year-old it would be very understandable if Carlos Alcaraz hasn’t figured this out yet, but you have to figure out what puts you in the best mental headspace. Is that saying, come the US Open, that you want to finish No. 1 and seemingly constantly thinking about that as your goal," he said at 46:30 on the 'Why is Alcaraz "Struggling" Now? | Mailbag' episode.

He mentioned that for most players, such a move would be counterproductive, only serving to increase self-imposed pressure.

"For most tennis players, that is going to be counterproductive. Like you’re simply putting more pressure on yourself and you’re not staying as much in the moment as maybe you could. And for most players, it is not advisable, for some it may be," he said.

Gross further emphasized the importance of Carlos Alcaraz and his coach Juan Carlos Ferrero carefully considering whether setting such long-term goals and openly discussing them was the right mental approach for the 20-year-old.

"But Alcaraz needs to seriously, and Juan Carlos Ferrero as well, they need to seriously think about is this the way to go mentally? To set a long-term goal, to be public about it, to constantly think about it. Is that really the way to go?" he added.

Carlos Alcaraz's public year-end World No. 1 pursuit could be contributing to his title drought since Wimbledon, says Gill Gross

Carlos Alcaraz

Carlos Alcaraz hasn't won a tour-level title since his triumph over Novak Djokovic in the 2023 Wimbledon Championships final.

Gill Gross expressed his belief that the Spaniard's relentless pursuit of the year-end World No. 1 ranking might be responsible for his recent title drought, pointing to the self-imposed mental pressure as a contributing factor.

Gross noted that Alcaraz appeared on edge and less cheerful during his campaign at the Shanghai Masters. He also mentioned that the 20-year-old seemed to struggle to concentrate during his loss to Jannik Sinner at the China Open.

"So is that contributing to Alcaraz going title-less since Wimbledon? Could be. Because mentally he seemed a little bit on edge, not having quite as much fun, not smiling quite as much," he said.

"Again, having the focus issues that I talked about earlier in the show and it case of the Sinner match, having some nerve management issues as well. So maybe it’s not the best way to go," he added.