Carlos Alcaraz made a bad gesture during the match against the American Tommy Paul, to try to earn a place for the semifinal of the ATP Master 1000 in Toronto.A behavior not like him that surprised and not a little the Canadian crowd following the quarter-final between the Spanish and the USAs happened with Hubert Hurkacz, the world No.1 got off to a very bad start and expressed a level of play far from the best version of him.
This meant that he had a handicap start (first set lost 6-3), which forced him to chase after the score and another tough battle lasting over two hours.At the end of the set, the Spaniard wanted to vent all his anger and frustration, throwing his racket towards the center of the crowd.
After destroying the racket, he tried to give energy waiting to resume for the second set: “I can’t play like that. How you can play tennis so badly, it’s incredible. How you can play with so little feeling. “A similar episode happened this year in Madrid and Carlitos explained in a press conference: “It was a mental stop in a moment that made me throw my racket.
I don’t support this kind of thing, but this time it came out and I I’m sorry. I’ve discussed this with Juan Carlos and I know this kind of thing must never happen again.”Here is the frame immortalized by several fans and spread on Twitter.
Carlos Alcaraz chucking his racket towards his seat in frustration after losing the first set to Paul.
He’s so annoyed at his level, unsurprisingly.
Another very very slow start from the World #1… pic.twitter.com/AMDNFdj6jx — Olly 🎾🇬🇧 (@Olly_Tennis_) August 11, 2023
😡🎾 Carlos Alcaraz, enfadadísimo con su juego en el #ATPToronto
“No puedo jugar así”
“Como se puede jugar tan mal al tenis, es increíble”
“Como se puede tener tan poco feeling”
pic.twitter.com/DN3J3HYkqr — Carrusel Deportivo (@carrusel) August 12, 2023
The match
Against Tommy Paul, Carlos Alcaraz is unable to repeat the comeback completed with Hubert Hurkacz.The Spaniard starts very badly like Thursday, suffering an opening break (even two double faults) and even finishing down 2-5.
The number one struggles to find an acceptable version of his tennis, he manages to recover one of the two breaks but then gives up his serve again (6-3).In the next set, the key is all between the seventh and eighth game: Carlitos breaks the serve to zero and defends the advantage after canceling three chances of the counter-break in favor of the American (6-4).
The crowd is everything for Carlitos, who tries to get loaded and leave behind the rage of the first set.But it is Paul who plays a really good decisive third set. The American takes advantage of the only break opportunity granted by the young 20-year-old and with great solidity maintains the last batting rounds. Waiting for him now is Jannik Sinner.
