The Arrogance of Alcaraz is and will be his undoing

M

messiahrobins

Legend
I am very disappointed with his attitude. He had the world at his feet and has unreal talent but he has gone backwards since wimbledon and seems to lack the desire and heart to scrap in rallies and seems more interested in playing up to the crowd than playing winning tennis that at times can be boring to watch but effective.
We saw this arrogance against medvedev in the uso where he took liberties with medvedev as if he was a club player and he did the same today with zverev, even his pre match comments were disrespectful.
the blsme is with alcaraz coaching team. Somebody needs to grab him by the throat and give his some home truths. way too much showbosting and if he doesnt get a grip he will be the greatest unfulfilled talent ever as he should be winning calendar slams with his talent. But so could alot of other players in the past but what separates the great from ATGs is heart desire and a willingness to die on court. Not seeing that mentality from alcaraz.
Toni nadal would be the perfect coach for him. Has been awful for FAA but for Alcaraz he would deal with that arrogance
 
And his very poor backhand. It’s not a good shot at the top level. Aesthetically it’s fine and he can whallop it, but against the top guys he consistently gets rushed and misfires with it. Not enough spin.

Djokovic, Sinner, Medvedev, Rune, and of course Zverev all eat his lunch in BH to BH rallies.
 
There is a certain semblance of arrogance in his play, but not self-generated. It's the extraordinary media hype machine that is to blame ultimately - far too easy to get caught up in the excitement

He has all the shots. He has the physicality. He needs a constant presence in his box to maintain his temperament across every single match and bring the elements together while he is still in his "formative years". No use having a coach who is barely featuring in Slam tournaments. Focusing on Djokovic alone is pointless
That's probably the one minor impediment to him winning consistently
 
Kralingen said:
And his very poor backhand. It’s not a good shot at the top level. Aesthetically it’s fine and he can whallop it, but against the top guys he consistently gets rushed and misfires with it. Not enough spin.

Djokovic, Sinner, Medvedev, Rune, and of course Zverev all eat his lunch in BH to BH rallies.
Click to expand...
The forehand looks like the shot that needs more improvement, and he can be rushed easily from that side. He was spraying them left, right and center. The Wilander jinx works once again. Greatest forehand of all time couldn't find the court a lot of the time in this match.
 
Yeah, but at 20 years old and having accomplished so much it is pretty understandable. Hubris is a disease his success has brought on, and he has to get it under control. It’s a symptom of being good, and not a terrible problem to have at this age, all things considered.

We all remember Djokovic’s iconically hilarious press conference at Roland Garros in 06, or Federer… for years. In the long run it helps to have that crazy self-belief that borders on arrogance, but it takes time to learn to temper it, to play smarter, talk smarter, think smarter, etc.

The guy is still not old enough to buy a drink in the US, people need to put everything, the good and the bad, into perspective.
 
Kralingen said:
And his very poor backhand. It’s not a good shot at the top level. Aesthetically it’s fine and he can whallop it, but against the top guys he consistently gets rushed and misfires with it. Not enough spin.

Djokovic, Sinner, Medvedev, Rune, and of course Zverev all eat his lunch in BH to BH rallies.
Click to expand...
Actually i thinkmhis bh is more solid than the fh. That fh is very average. Whennits on obviously its great but he makes so many ufes off it and misses alot of short mid court easy balls with it. But yes your points about the BH are valid. Its not a top levelmshot like zverev and djokovic have.
 
Kralingen said:
And his very poor backhand. It’s not a good shot at the top level. Aesthetically it’s fine and he can whallop it, but against the top guys he consistently gets rushed and misfires with it. Not enough spin.

Djokovic, Sinner, Medvedev, Rune, and of course Zverev all eat his lunch in BH to BH rallies.
Click to expand...

I am afraid there's more than BH that makes him vulnerable.
 
messiahrobins said:
I am very disappointed with his attitude. He had the world at his feet and has unreal talent but he has gone backwards since wimbledon and seems to lack the desire and heart to scrap in rallies and seems more interested in playing up to the crowd than playing winning tennis that at times can be boring to watch but effective.
We saw this arrogance against medvedev in the uso where he took liberties with medvedev as if he was a club player and he did the same today with zverev, even his pre match comments were disrespectful.
the blsme is with alcaraz coaching team. Somebody needs to grab him by the throat and give his some home truths. way too much showbosting and if he doesnt get a grip he will be the greatest unfulfilled talent ever as he should be winning calendar slams with his talent. But so could alot of other players in the past but what separates the great from ATGs is heart desire and a willingness to die on court. Not seeing that mentality from alcaraz.
Toni nadal would be the perfect coach for him. Has been awful for FAA but for Alcaraz he would deal with that arrogance
Click to expand...
HELL NO.


Definitely not Toni. He'll never ditch Juanki as he's like a father to him.
 
Perhaps he’s arrogant, but he’s had far better results than everyone else in the next gen. In my book he gets a pass for having at least some level of consistent success over everyone else under the age of 28. And plus he’s still young, he’s got a lot of years left in him if he plays his cards right.
 
Think he would benefit by playing more 'within himself'. It's also a matter of personality / mindset i guess. Little bit less crowd pleasing and playing his strengths (physical, speed, stamina) would be better i think. Like Rafa 2005-2008 : first secure defence, probe the opponent, strike when opportunity is there. No constant highlight reel tennis aka showboating& when blasting past your opponent does not work open your arsenal of strokes & tactics. Sinner (2 years older) is better on his way in this aspect of playing matches, he also has another personality which allows him to do this better imo.
 
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I agree with some things, like playing for the gallery sometimes, i believe its good intentioned, but that its not how you compete when you wanna win things all year long, about Toni nadal, well, i dont think that would be the case necesarely, each player has different personality and Toni IS a hard coach, that works with some personalities, like nadals, he was always a slave to his uncle, his uncle used to teaser him a lot when he was just a boy, some harsh stories, im not sure that would work with Alcaraz, we Will se if he can figure things out
 
Krish0608 said:
Agreed. Tone down the showboating, be more humble and stop talking about facing Novak in the final when you’re not yet through the first week. Have some respect for your opponents.
Click to expand...
What's also disrespectful, in my view, is imagining the Zverev-Medvedev-Tsitsipas generation would have nothing more to offer, and that Alcaraz would simply waltz in and become the next big thing without any challenges. And I think a lot of this backlash against him comes from people who, in their minds, were already seeing him as the new king of tennis (there's a huge demand for that, and I can't understand why, we've literally just had three kings of tennis in close succession) and who react with unhealthy and childish levels of impatience if he fails to dominate the tour immediately, at only 20 years of age, when the sport is increasingly becoming an older man's game.
 
ScentOfDefeat said:
What's also disrespectful, in my view, is imagining the Zverev-Medvedev-Tsitsipas generation would have nothing more to offer, and that Alcaraz would simply waltz in and become the next big thing without any challenges. And I think a lot of this backlash against him comes from people who, in their minds, were already seeing him as the new king of tennis (there's a huge demand for that, and I can't understand why, we've literally just had three kings of tennis in close succession) and who react with unhealthy and childish levels of impatience if he fails to dominate the tour immediately, at only 20 years of age, when the sport is increasingly becoming an older man's game.
Click to expand...
No

That's because Raz was proving so
He destroyed med in Miami Wimby
Tsitsipas in RG and Barcelona
Zverev in USO and Madrid

We are not making it up

All these matches happened in real life. Alcaraz won all in straight sets and humiliated these guys.

Since USO quarters though

He lost to meddy in major semis
Lost to Zverev in ATP finals and major quarters

People are not at fault. They only say what they see.
 
Exuding confidence is a great way to get in your opponents head. You want him moping around out there? Alcaraz is going to be a GOAT. Zverev, a top 10, just played out of his mind today. Not everyone can be unbeatable.
 
ScentOfDefeat said:
What's also disrespectful, in my view, is imagining the Zverev-Medvedev-Tsitsipas generation would have nothing more to offer, and that Alcaraz would simply waltz in and become the next big thing without any challenges. And I think a lot of this backlash against him comes from people who, in their minds, were already seeing him as the new king of tennis (there's a huge demand for that, and I can't understand why, we've literally just had three kings of tennis in close succession) and who react with unhealthy and childish levels of impatience if he fails to dominate the tour immediately, at only 20 years of age, when the sport is increasingly becoming an older man's game.
Click to expand...
Not to such a high extent. Alcaraz is the first teenage slam winner since Nadal in 2005 and the only teenage no.1 in a supposed super physical era of tennis meant for older men.
 
messiahrobins said:
Somebody needs to grab him by the throat and give his some home truths.
Click to expand...

A full circle moment would be this lady doing it.

8dfgco.jpg
 
messiahrobins said:
I am very disappointed with his attitude. He had the world at his feet and has unreal talent but he has gone backwards since wimbledon and seems to lack the desire and heart to scrap in rallies and seems more interested in playing up to the crowd than playing winning tennis that at times can be boring to watch but effective.
We saw this arrogance against medvedev in the uso where he took liberties with medvedev as if he was a club player and he did the same today with zverev, even his pre match comments were disrespectful.
the blsme is with alcaraz coaching team. Somebody needs to grab him by the throat and give his some home truths. way too much showbosting and if he doesnt get a grip he will be the greatest unfulfilled talent ever as he should be winning calendar slams with his talent. But so could alot of other players in the past but what separates the great from ATGs is heart desire and a willingness to die on court. Not seeing that mentality from alcaraz.
Toni nadal would be the perfect coach for him. Has been awful for FAA but for Alcaraz he would deal with that arrogance
Click to expand...
He is an extremely talented young man with 2 majors. Having belief doesn’t make one arrogant. There will be failures along the way happens to everyone. He is only 20, so not fully developed EQ, imagine the Djoker back then. Rafa is the rare exception. I think this is a gross over reaction.
 
Arrogance may not be the right word, but I agree that his shot selection is **** poor. When he makes those ill timed drop shots they look spectacular, but when he misses them at critical moments in a match like today where he was down for all of the match and needed to just lock down and force Zverev to make errors, instead, he made his own errors over and over again. Many of them looked loose and careless (my opinion) and I completely agree he needs to grind in those moments. With his speed/defense, he should be more patient especially when he is down.
 
nolefam_2024 said:
No

That's because Raz was proving so
He destroyed med in Miami Wimby
Tsitsipas in RG and Barcelona
Zverev in USO and Madrid

We are not making it up

All these matches happened in real life. Alcaraz won all in straight sets and humiliated these guys.

Since USO quarters though

He lost to meddy in major semis
Lost to Zverev in ATP finals and major quarters

People are not at fault. They only say what they see.
Click to expand...
So what? Why do you have to engage with this like it's some kind of tragedy?
Didn't it take three years for Djokovic to win a second Slam? And who talks about that now?
A career should be assessed in the long run, and not in this snowflake state of constant reaction to what's happening from one week to the next.
The peaks and troughs of Alcaraz schizos looks like this to me:

 
ScentOfDefeat said:
So what? Why do you have to invest in this like it's some kind of tragedy?
Didn't it take three years for Djokovic to win a second Slam? And who talks about that now?
A career should be assessed in the long run, and not in this snowflake state of constant reaction to what's happening from one week to the next.
The peaks and troughs of Alcaraz schizos looks like this to me:

Click to expand...
True
 
messiahrobins said:
I am very disappointed with his attitude. He had the world at his feet and has unreal talent but he has gone backwards since wimbledon and seems to lack the desire and heart to scrap in rallies and seems more interested in playing up to the crowd than playing winning tennis that at times can be boring to watch but effective.
We saw this arrogance against medvedev in the uso where he took liberties with medvedev as if he was a club player and he did the same today with zverev, even his pre match comments were disrespectful.
the blsme is with alcaraz coaching team. Somebody needs to grab him by the throat and give his some home truths. way too much showbosting and if he doesnt get a grip he will be the greatest unfulfilled talent ever as he should be winning calendar slams with his talent. But so could alot of other players in the past but what separates the great from ATGs is heart desire and a willingness to die on court. Not seeing that mentality from alcaraz.
Toni nadal would be the perfect coach for him. Has been awful for FAA but for Alcaraz he would deal with that arrogance
Click to expand...

How is he "arrogant", I'm not understanding!? Not a fan of the guy but he is no worse than anybody else to me. And if he is, it's the right attitude to have in tennis. You can only succeed if you think highly of yourself, sad but true....
 
I believe I owe a humble apology to @Krish0608 who said half a year ago that Alcaraz mentally was dampened by the Cincinatti loss and focused too much on Nole, to which I disagreed and said and we’d be getting Wimbledon/Spring Raz back. You were right all along
 
messiahrobins said:
I am very disappointed with his attitude. He had the world at his feet and has unreal talent but he has gone backwards since wimbledon and seems to lack the desire and heart to scrap in rallies and seems more interested in playing up to the crowd than playing winning tennis that at times can be boring to watch but effective.
We saw this arrogance against medvedev in the uso where he took liberties with medvedev as if he was a club player and he did the same today with zverev, even his pre match comments were disrespectful.
the blsme is with alcaraz coaching team. Somebody needs to grab him by the throat and give his some home truths. way too much showbosting and if he doesnt get a grip he will be the greatest unfulfilled talent ever as he should be winning calendar slams with his talent. But so could alot of other players in the past but what separates the great from ATGs is heart desire and a willingness to die on court. Not seeing that mentality from alcaraz.
Toni nadal would be the perfect coach for him. Has been awful for FAA but for Alcaraz he would deal with that arrogance
Click to expand...
What is Blsme and showbosting?
 
His flashy game works when he’s on form. But if he’s even 10% off, those flashy shots fail and he loses a lot of free points. It was painful seeing those dropshots and unnecessary overhitting. He’ll get there though, we forget how young he is. And Zverev was playing very solid today so those mistakes were exposed more than they would against most opponents.
 
mike danny said:
Not to such a high extent. Alcaraz is the first teenage slam winner since Nadal in 2005 and the only teenage no.1 in a supposed super physical era of tennis meant for older men.
Click to expand...
Exactly. So what's all the panicking about?
He has a long way to go. But so do Zverev, Medvedev and Tsitsipas, because players tend to retire a bit later now.
 
But let's face it. It's become pretty apparent that Alcaraz is happiest when he is able to display his combination of speed, touch and explosiveness all on a single point. We've seen it time and again, that big grin and finger wagging happens when he wins a point doing all kinds of crazy, superhuman things -- it's what he loves to do. Unless someone is able to convince him that breaking back, winning a game, set, match, etc. is more important and more joyful, I'm not sure he is going to change his style of play / shot selection.
 
ScentOfDefeat said:
Exactly. So what's all the panicking about?
He has a long way to go. But so do Zverev, Medvedev and Tsitsipas, because players tend to retire a bit later now.
Click to expand...
Zverev, Med and Tsitsipas have already shown us what they're capable of. Them playing for more years won't suddenly change that perception.
 
ScentOfDefeat said:
How do you know that?
Would you say the same about Wawrinka?
Click to expand...
Not everyone can be Wawrinka. Wawrinka became a top player very late and truly showed us what he's made of.

Zverev, Tsitsipas and Med have been top players for a fair number of years and have been in their prime for a fair number of years as well. If they had had something special to show us, they would have by now.
 
mike danny said:
Not everyone can be Wawrinka. Wawrinka became a top player very late and truly showed us what he's made of.

Zverev, Tsitsipas and Med have been top players for a fair number of years and have been in their prime for a fair number of years as well. If they had had something special to show us, they would have by now.
Click to expand...
Be open to the possibility of being surprised sometimes. That's all I'm saying.
What's the worst that can happen?
 
Carlos has real vulnerabilities against zverev, Medvedev and sinner. We have been seeing this in phases post wimby and pre uso wins. He can get troubled by big hitters and returners like z and sinner. His (well deserved) big wins over Djokovic have clouded some of these, but some of the top guys are working out carlos' weaknesses.
 
mike danny said:
Not everyone can be Wawrinka. Wawrinka became a top player very late and truly showed us what he's made of.

Zverev, Tsitsipas and Med have been top players for a fair number of years and have been in their prime for a fair number of years as well. If they had had something special to show us, they would have by now.
Click to expand...

They can show us something once Djokovic is retired lol
 
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