Carlos Alcaraz ‘couldn’t calm himself down’ as he makes ‘nervous’ confession
Carlos Alcaraz’s hopes of winning three consecutive Indian Wells Open titles are over and he admits nerves got the better of him during the semi-final against Jack Draper, while he also addressed the controversial point that was reviewed.
The Spaniard started the match on the back of a 16-match winning streak at the ATP Masters 1000 event and was looking to join Roger Federer (2004-06) and Novak Djokovic (2014-16) as the only men to win three titles in a row at the tournament.
Alcaraz hadn’t lost a set during his run to the last four, but went down 6-1, 0-6, 6-4 against rising star Draper and it was a case of nerves getting the better of him during the day.
“I mean, this one hurts. I don’t want to lose any match, but I think this one was even more special to me. It was difficult today, a lot of nerves in the match,” the world No 3 said.
“What could I have done better? Just to play my style and, you know, stepping on the court with less nerves. I think that was a big difference.”
Draper raced into a 3-0 lead in the first set as he broke the Alcaraz serve in game two and then broke again in game six before serving it out to love.
The four-time Grand Slam winner admitted the opening set was a nightmare.
Alcaraz added: “Obviously I wanted to win the third in a row, but, I mean, I can’t pretend to win every match. I am not as upset about not getting the third one in a row. I am upset about myself, about the way that I approached the match, the way that I felt during the whole day, that I couldn’t calm down myself.
“That’s, for me, the most disappointed thing that I’m feeling right now, because, I mean, is probably one of the worst sets that I have played in my whole career, the first set.
“So that means how nervous I was, you know, before the match, during the whole day. So that’s, for me, it is really disappointing. How much it’s gonna take to take the upset? Not too much. Not too much. Because I consider myself a person who learns from the fails, from the losses.
“The last time that I lost here was the semi-final, and after all, I won Miami, so I think I will go for it. I will learn from that match, and I will make the most of myself in Miami.”
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Carlos Alcaraz crashes out of Indian Wells after controversial double video replay
He finally composed himself in the second set as he broke three times to take the match to a decider, but there was a contentious moment in the third game with Alcaraz serving.
A drop shot from the second seed was chased down by Draper, but umpire Mohamed Lahyani declared it was a double bounce. Video replays showed the Briton got to the ball in time and the official initially declared the point should be replayed.
Draper then called for another view as he felt he should have been awarded the point as the call did not hinder Alcaraz.
He was eventually given the point and ended up breaking the Spaniard’s serve.
“I mean, I didn’t see if it was one bounce or two bounces at the beginning. So I was just waiting for the review,” Alcaraz said.
“I mean, and after, you know, with the second review, it was in the middle of the point or after I hit it, so I wasn’t sure enough. So I didn’t hear, you know, while I was hitting the ball, but I wasn’t sure enough to say something.
“And, you know, waiting for the ball reviews, they didn’t bother to me at all. I mean, that way it was normal for the review, so all I can say is Jack came, he played much better than me. You know, that point didn’t affect, you know, for my play at all.”
