“The pressure destroyed me”: Alcaraz opens up about Sinner’s absence and the weight of expectations.

ChaelAZ said:
This was my commentary in is first big year, and also his second big year, that he would have to have essentially a junior year on tour of dealing with pressure and expectation, and that is where he will be forged or a bit diverted in his trajectory. And also why I like to make spoof threads when any of these young, newish players make a tourney breakthrough, and TTW starts the super hype train. Now Alcz is different having already beat top players, won multiple slams, and defended titles, so his upside is already somewhat proven, but akin to Nadal he is VERY much a confidence player, and any doubt, like you see above, can effect play and outcomes. However, I think/know he can learn and has a solid team around him to help.

I am really curious how this next part of the season unfolds. I still think he might struggle on clay, but grass might be his confidence builder.

We will see.

Exciting to watch in any case. I continue to say I'll watch Alcaraz lose before I will watch most other players have a great match. He is pretty amazing and creative on court.
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No, I will continue to always tell the truth that carlos alcaraz will never ever be a true all-time great ever.
 
clayqueen said:
Not only were these comparisons not inevitable, they were ridiculous and unearned. They implied that Carlos, as a young player starting the tour, was on the same level as these legends who spent many years achieving before they became legends.
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Yes, carlos alcaraz will never ever be a true all-time great ever so do not ever be completely deluded by the completely corrupt tennis media propaganda.
 
clayqueen said:
When Alcaraz and Sinner started, there was a changing of the guard. Federer had retired, Rafa was injured and close to retirement, and Murray could not regain his form after hip surgery. Carlos did not have to go through them to win his titles, apart from Djokovic, who could not hold the fort alone. All the new generations before that had to go through the Big 4 to win titles, which was monumental.
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There has been absolutely no true changing of the guard since rafael nadal completely overcame andre agassi which was two decades ago.
 
Winner Sinner said:
Great Master, who do you think between Sinner and Alcaraz will have the more successful career when they both retire?
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Both carlos alcaraz and jannik sinner are very close in ability so it is a little more difficult to predict who will have the more successful career at the end but right now based on the head-to-heads of both carlos alcaraz and jannik sinner against both rafael nadal and novak djokovic, I believe that jannik sinner will have the slight edge against carlos alcaraz because carlos alcaraz has two completely losing head-to-heads against both rafael nadal and novak djokovic whereas jannik sinner only has a completely losing head-to-head against rafael nadal at the moment.
 
NYTennisfan said:
Carlos was fearless and his mental game was a strength his entire young career right up until that Olympic Gold medal match failure. Ever since then he's been a broken man, Djoker took the Gold and his soul with that match. He's still so young and the immense talent is always there so he'll be fine but he has some soul searching to do right now, a coaching change might be in order.
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Totally agree - Carlos's huge mistake during the Olympics was making the following statement after he won his SF vs FAA - "I'm going to give the people of Spain what they want, which is the gold".

Novak Djokovic definitely got wind of what Carlos said and if there is one thing you do not do before you play Djokovic in a big match, it is to give him fuel.

Djokovic made him pay as he played like he was 27 instead of 37 in the final, served well, moved well and blasted some ridiculous FH winners to claim the one title that was missing from his trophy cabinet for 16 years.
 
Tennis Devolution said:
No, I will continue to always tell the truth that carlos alcaraz will never ever be a true all-time great ever.
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200w.gif
 
THUNDERVOLLEY said:
It's also certain "fans" exaggerating every aspect of Alcaraz to ridiculous degrees, so when he inevitably failed, said inevitability would make him seem weak.
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Yup, almost everyone is still in complete argumentless denial of the truth that carlos alcaraz and the rest of the "next-gen" will never ever be true all-time greats ever.
 
Why should Sinner's absence adversely affect Alcaraz's performance? This proves he has bought into the hype that they are the Big 2.
 
No one knew beforehand that the Big 4 would be the top 4 players for ten consecutive years. It had never happened before and may not happen again soon. People think it's a prescribed phenomenon in tennis that three or four players HAVE TO dominate. The present generation has to prove themselves over many years to earn their place in history. They cannot just steal the clothes of the Big 4.

Zverev declared that he wants to be part of the Big 3, with Sinner and Alcaraz fighting for titles. However, he has only made one final out of seven tournaments this year.
 
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Hitman said:
Aren't they?
Combined 7 slams and 9 masters and 1 YEC
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Let's see where they are in 10 years. The Big 3 earned that accolade after much longer than two years. Out of 5 appearances this year, Carlos has made one final in a 500 event, which he won. He has lost to Goffin, Lehecka, Draper and Djokovic. That is not domination.

It's just a marketing ploy to sell tickets.
 
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ultimately, a big victory will come to Alcaraz and he will raise again without the need of any illegal substances

Lets see how he unfolds on clay this year
 
MichaelNadal said:
Yeah they literally don't have the dedication, the world doesn't make em like they used to before social media.
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Also, a lot of the damage is done in the key developmental years.

I was born in the early 90s. The advent of broadband - online gaming & early social media, namely - absolutely murdered my generation's athletic (and, probably, academic) potential. It took our edge at the time where hours of focus and repetition are the name of the game. But it was nothing on what's come since.

It's no coincidence that most of the best athletes of the last 20 years were born by 1989. The exceptions seem to have disproportionately grown up too poor to afford the distractions.
 
platypus50 said:
Totally agree - Carlos's huge mistake during the Olympics was making the following statement after he won his SF vs FAA - "I'm going to give the people of Spain what they want, which is the gold".

Novak Djokovic definitely got wind of what Carlos said and if there is one thing you do not do before you play Djokovic in a big match, it is to give him fuel.

Djokovic made him pay as he played like he was 27 instead of 37 in the final, served well, moved well and blasted some ridiculous FH winners to claim the one title that was missing from his trophy cabinet for 16 years.
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It is a bit of a fail on Alcaraz’s part considering even Zverev of all people beat Novak at the Olympics
 
clayqueen said:
Not only were these comparisons not inevitable, they were ridiculous and unearned. They implied that Carlos, as a young player starting the tour, was on the same level as these legends who spent many years achieving before they became legends.
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It's totally unfair, because the Big 3 weren't called that at Alcaraz's current age.
:notworthy:
 
Rosstour said:
I think the doping is what led to the insane dominance, I don't see how we can come to any other conclusion.

Before his chem stack he was constantly physically overmatched, holding the hip, moving gingerly. He hit 2024 as the best mover on hardcourts since Djoko 2014/15 and was all of a sudden an unkillable vampire.

The on court nausea episodes were a tell, in retrospect.
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And if he keeps winning, who will you blame for his performance on the court?
:cautious:
 
ChaelAZ said:
I am really curious how this next part of the season unfolds. I still think he might struggle on clay, but grass might be his confidence builder.

We will see.

Exciting to watch in any case. I continue to say I'll watch Alcaraz lose before I will watch most other players have a great match. He is pretty amazing and creative on court.
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So odd to hear that a Spanish player might struggle on clay who won RG and made semis the yr prior. - Maybe from his 2024 Olympic's loss
and that grass is his confidence builder.
~ the exact opposite from the 90s until 2020.

I get frustrated watching C.A. play b/c as artistic, athletic, and dominant he can show us in a match or tournament, he can also self-destruct just like a 50-100 ranked player.
Consistency in strategy and execution in the top 5 is expected but as Carlos said, maybe on any given day there are a lot more players who present real problems.
 
a10best said:
So odd to hear that a Spanish player might struggle on clay who won RG and made semis the yr prior. - Maybe from his 2024 Olympic's loss
and that grass is his confidence builder.
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As much as there are aligned things between Nadal and Alcz, and Spanish in general for clay, nothing is guaranteed there for Carlos. I just think there is something that clicks better for him on grass. More than likely for all the reasons you mention he should have confidence on clay, it puts even more pressure on, where grass there is certainly less traditional Spanish player/Nadal performance guarantees hanging over him. He may just feel free to swing out.

I get frustrated watching C.A. play b/c as artistic, athletic, and dominant he can show us in a match or tournament, he can also self-destruct just like a 50-100 ranked player.
Consistency in strategy and execution in the top 5 is expected but as Carlos said, maybe on any given day there are a lot more players who present real problems.
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To me, Carlos is the successful version of Monfils, wanting the same excitement and crowd awe while playing, but being able to execute infinitely better than Le Mon ever was. And, I mean he has done it pretty consistently over the last few years, dropping a bit the end of last year and then rolling a bit into this year. It is Just April, so plenty of upside to go.

But mentality and confidence are huge real problems and effect physical performance. Sinner worked VERY hard on conquering that inner voice, and he has some really great interviews about it. Alcz has also mentioned it, but still work work to do.
 
ChaelAZ said:
As much as there are aligned things between Nadal and Alcz, and Spanish in general for clay, nothing is guaranteed there for Carlos. I just think there is something that clicks better for him on grass. More than likely for all the reasons you mention he should have confidence on clay, it puts even more pressure on, where grass there is certainly less traditional Spanish player/Nadal performance guarantees hanging over him. He may just feel free to swing out.



To me, Carlos is the successful version of Monfils, wanting the same excitement and crowd awe while playing, but being able to execute infinitely better than Le Mon ever was. And, I mean he has done it pretty consistently over the last few years, dropping a bit the end of last year and then rolling a bit into this year. It is Just April, so plenty of upside to go.

But mentality and confidence are huge real problems and effect physical performance. Sinner worked VERY hard on conquering that inner voice, and he has some really great interviews about it. Alcz has also mentioned it, but still work work to do.
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If Monfis was not in the Big 4 era he may have snuck in a slam and dance for the fans. I think his comrade Fils will win one as he gets more consistent and is on point the whole tournament.

Perhaps the reason he and other players have to do constant fist thrusts in the air after a point or game. These small changes that have shown to be positives in individual sports.
 
clayqueen said:
No one knew beforehand that the Big 4 would be the top 4 players for ten consecutive years. It had never happened before and may not happen again soon. People think it's a prescribed phenomenon in tennis that three or four players HAVE TO dominate. The present generation has to prove themselves over many years to earn their place in history. They cannot just steal the clothes of the Big 4.

Zverev declared that he wants to be part of the Big 3, with Sinner and Alcaraz fighting for titles. However, he has only made one final out of seven tournaments this year.
Click to expand...

Agree, but the big 3 have largely dominated for 2 decades and left such a big mark that it's looking somewhat impossible for anyone to ever be better than them so tennis are desperate to find new incarnates, they saw Alcaraz and ran with him, now Sinner

Zverev should never be there
 
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