Tennis legend reveals why Carlos Alcaraz has changed since his Wimbledon win

Carlos Alcaraz has struggled to find his best form since his stunning win in the Wimbledon final against Novak Djokovic in July and now an all-time great of the game has identified why the Spaniard has struggled to hit the heights in recent weeks.

World No 2 Alcaraz suffered his earliest exit to a tournament since May when he was beaten by Grigor Dimitrov in the Shanghai Masters earlier this week.

The Spaniard went out of the Rome Open at the last-32 stage in the final warm-up tournament to the French Open, but had made at least the quarter-final of every other event since then.

Alcaraz also suffered a surprise defeat in the US Open semi-finals against Daniil Medvedev and was beaten by Jannik Sinner in the China Open earlier this month.

Now former world No 1 Mats Wilander has suggested Alcaraz has been feeling the pressure of his status as the new star of tennis, as he believes it has taken some of his joy away on court.

“The most important part is the smile that he brings to the court,” said Wilander.

“When there’s pressure, he’s still out there having a great time and you can see he’s having a great time because he’s smiling.

“That is so new. Not even the great Roger Federer did that. Rafa certainly not, Novak once in a while, but not in the same way.

“He needs to go back to having more fun on the court. He’s looked so much more tense since Wimbledon.”

Alcaraz has insisted he is relishing his status as the player who has all the attention shining on his shoulders, despite his indifferent form in recent weeks.

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His hopes of beating Djokovic to the year-end No 1 ranking have taken a blow after his disappointing results in China, but the 20-year-old Spaniard is remaining upbeat as he prepares to play the ATP 500 event in Basel later this month.

“I want to do my best in Basel, which will be my next tournament,” said Alcaraz.

“I know that the goal of finishing number 1 this year has been very complicated for me with these last results.

“It is going to be difficult, but I want to try. I will try to win the next events.

“I always say that you can learn much more from defeats than from victories. I take many lessons to be better. I have to work more on some things if I want to beat the best.

“Before competing again, I am going to train in several aspects that I have been able to learn a lot from in this match.”

Alarm bells have been ringing of Alcaraz after his dip in form in recent weeks, but former world No 2 Alex Correjta has dismissed suggestions that he has allowed his standards to slip.

“Alcaraz’s Asian tour is not worrying. I don’t give it any importance,” Correjta told Eurosport.

“Every tournament, every week, every game is a learning experience for Alcaraz, his season is being spectacular. Better almost impossible. [For] Carlos there will come a time when he will have to select tournaments like [Novak] Djokovic.

“We are used to times when Nadal, Djokovic and Federer reached the Masters 1000 [events] and won them as if nothing had happened, but it is more normal for him to make a semi-final against Sinner and then be surprised by Dimitrov.

“Maintaining 100% in the 80 games he plays a year is impossible.”