Carlos Alcaraz commits rare act of frustration, throws his racket during tense moment in loss to Tommy Paul at Canadian Open
A frustrated Carlos Alcaraz hurled his racket at his chair during his loss to Tommy Paul in the quarterfinals of the Canadian Open on Friday.
Paul defeated Alcaraz 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 in a rematch from last year's Canada Masters event. The Spaniard was put on the backfot by Paul's aggressive approach right from the word go.
Paul put in a clinical performance in the opening set as the World No. 1 made a flurry of mistakes. Alcaraz committed four double faults in the first set and struggled to find his rhythm on his groundstrokes. Although he regained some of his consistency in the second set, Paul proved too strong in the third.
Alcaraz was visibly annoyed with his level of play during the contest. The 20-year-old launched his racket, as seen in the video below (at the 1:30 mark), after he lost the opening set to Paul.
Alcaraz later vowed to put in more practice hours to prepare for the US Open, where he is the defending champion.
"A lot. I mean, I, you know, see myself back. And, you know, I realize that I didn't play well, you know, these matches," he said after the match.
"So all I can do now is practice to be better. You know, I have some weeks before US Open. But now I have to be focused on Cincinnati. It's a Masters 1000. It's a big tournament as well," Alcaraz added.
Alcaraz is also hoping to give his hard-court campaign a positive push when he plays in Cincinnati next week.
"I have to talk with my team. You know, I have to fly to Cincinnati, prepare well Cincinnati. But, obviously, I take a lot of lesson from this tournament, you know, coming to the next ones," the Spaniard said.
"Had a lot of days to prepare for the tournament" - Carlos Alcaraz after crashing out of Canadian Open
During the post-match press conference, Carlos Alcaraz was asked if playing on clay at the Hopman Cup affected his rhythm on hardcourts. The Spaniard, however, denied that assumption.
"No, I don't think so. I had a lot of days, you know, to prepare this tournament on hard court. I practice well. So I don't think Hopman Cup has something bad, you know, about this tournament," he stated.
The 20-year-old further suggested he needed to work on his confidence levels after his struggles at the Canadian Open.
"I think I did well some things in this tournament, but I always say that you can be better in everything even if you have played your best matches in your career. I have to improve a lot of things, getting more confidence on my game. And trying to play in Cincinnati as best as I can," Carlos Alcaraz continued.