How Carlos Alcaraz has proven he ‘doesn’t play for money’ – Serena Williams’ former coach
Leading coach Patrick Mouratoglou has played down the importance of Carlos Alcaraz’s defeats at exhibition events as he declared that the world No 1 needs the “internal flame” to perform at is best.
Alcaraz fell 2-6, 4-6 to world No 2 Jannik Sinner in the final of the Six Kings Slam exhibition in Riyadh last week, a match which had $4.5million on the line for the winner.
The six-time Grand Slam champion was broken three times and did not create a break point on his Italian rival’s serve in a one-sided contest.
Patrick Mouratoglou addresses Carlos Alcaraz’s losses
- Patrick Mouratoglou has urged those “worrying” about Carlos Alcaraz after his losses at the Laver Cup and the Six Kings Slam to “calm down”
- The former coach of Serena Williams said that Alcaraz winning the Six Kings Slam would not have “changed much” as he argued the Spaniard “doesn’t play for money”
- Alcaraz holds an outstanding record in 2025, and he has lost just two matches at ATP Tour events during an incredible run since March
The six participants at the Six Kings Slam earn a guaranteed $1.5million participation fee. Alcaraz also lost to Sinner in the inaugural final at the 2024 edition of the Saudi Arabian event.
In September, Alcaraz suffered a convincing 3-6, 2-6 defeat to Taylor Fritz in the Laver Cup in San Francisco.
The Laver Cup is a team competition and not an ATP Tour event, but the matches count towards official ATP win-loss and head-to-head statistics.
What did Mouratoglou say about Alcaraz’s Six Kings Slam and Laver Cup losses
In a video shared on his Instagram account, Mouratoglou addressed Alcaraz’s losses to Sinner and Fritz and offered his verdict on what motivates the Spanish star.
“I saw some commentaries of people online who were worrying about Carlos because he lost two matches lately. Calm down,” said the Frenchman, who has coached Serena Williams, Naomi Osaka and Holger Rune.
“I think it’s the same phenomenon, when Carlos plays an exhibition, or when he’s in the second round of a Grand Slam.
“He feels he is really way above his opponent, so he allows himself to lose focus, lose the set, because he knows that, first of all, the fact that he’s one set all is gonna give him extra motivation and the flame will come back.
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“And second, when there is not this flame, he doesn’t find the resources. So that explains why he’s up and down some matches. Actually, he’s working on it and at the US Open, he didn’t have that much.
“He’s a player who needs the internal flame to give his best. When he feels threatened, he can give his best.
“When he’s over-motivated and knows he can’t afford to lose his focus, he has the flame. When it doesn’t count that much for him, he doesn’t have the flame. When he has too much margin, he also struggles to find the flame.
“He won Tokyo because it was ATP and it counts for the ranking, so there was this excitement. Whether he wins or not, the final of the Six Kings Slam — it’s not going to change much. It’s just money. He doesn’t play for money.”
Carlos Alcaraz has had a career-best season in 2025
Alcaraz holds a stellar 67-7 (90.5%) record in 2025, which has been comfortably the best season of his career to date.
If you exclude his two Laver Cup matches, which many feel should not count towards official records, Alcaraz is an even more impressive 66-6 (91.7%).
Alcaraz, who still has three events left to play, has already won more matches than in any previous campaign, and he is well above his previous best single-season win rate of 84.4% in 2023.
The 22-year-old, who replaced Sinner as the world No 1 after winning the US Open, has won eight tournaments from the 10 finals he has reached this year, including two Grand Slams and three Masters titles.
Since the start of the clay-season in April, Alcaraz has reached the finals at eight consecutive tournaments. His only two losses at ATP tournaments in this period have been against Holger Rune in the Barcelona Open final and Sinner in the Wimbledon final.
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