Carlos Alcaraz makes startling confession and admits he wants revenge on next opponent

Carlos Alcaraz made some surprisingly honest confessions as he returned to top form to hammer Felix Auger-Aliassime and continue his defence of the Indian Wells title.

Alcaraz came into the tournament with big question marks hanging over him after he rolled his ankle in a tournament in Rio last month.

The world No 2 didn’t look to be playing at his highest level in his opening match against Matteo Arnadi, but he was back to his best as he dismissed Auger-Aliassime in convincing 6-2 6-3 win.

Tennis players rarely choose to show signs of weakness on and off the court and that’s why Alcaraz’s post-match comments suggesting he lost his confidence after a slide in form in recent months were a little startling.

The Wimbledon conceeded he was worried about his form after a poor 7-6(2) 6-3 defeat against Nicolas Jarry of Chile in Argentina last month, as he was forced to rediscover his form ahead of his return to Indian Wells.

“It was a difficult few months for me. My confidence went down a little bit,” said Alcaraz.

“Not after Australia but in the South American swing. After Buenos Aires, I didn’t play good tennis.

“My confidence went down a little bit and I have been struggling during the practice every day, you know, try to keep my confidence high or as high as I can. Yeah, trying to be myself every day.

“You know after the first round I was struggling a little bit in the first set. I didn’t play my tennis, but I found the good parts to start playing a little bit better.

“Today was a really good match since the beginning until the last ball. So it was really helpful for my confidence and for my tennis.”

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He was asked to expand on his confidence issues and give the Indian Wells media what they were looking for with these comments.

“I’m looking in every match how it feels, how I hit the ball, how I move,” he stated.

“I lost in the quarter-final in Australia but I left Australia with a good feeling. I was playing great. But, you know, after that I was not feeling as good as I wanted.

“But for me, it’s about feelings; not losses or winning. Obviously for me, feeling well on the matches is very, very important.

“As I said, I need that level that I played at the end of the first round, this match as well. I think that helps a lot. But yeah, I was really focused on every practice and being myself and giving my 100% in every shot.

“I’m just focusing on every day giving my 100% in every practice, in every match how I can be better.

“I think if I’m following that path, I’ll do really good results. I think I approach the tournament like this.”

Alcaraz will now play Fabian Marozsan, who beat him in last year’s Rome Masters and he didn’t try to hide his desire to gain sweet revenge over the Hungarian.

“After that loss, I felt really, really bad,” he confesses. “After that match, I really wanted to rematch that match against him.

“I mean, he’s playing great tennis. He has been beating big guys this probably past months. Yeah, I’m really looking forward to playing against him again.”

Alcaraz is coming to the boil in his defence of the Indian Wells crown and that may be bad news for Marozsan and any other opponents that cross his path.