Darren Cahill has offered his assessment on Carlos Alcaraz struggle in the North American swing and the reasons behind his failure to defend the New York major.
After breezing through first five rounds at Flushing Meadows, Alcaraz’s dreams for a third major at 20 and a title defense at Flushing Meadows got shattered when he was handed a four sets defeat by Daniil Medvedev in the semis.
After the match the sensational Spaniard was honest in admitting the faults in his tactical prowess and confessed that he was “not mature enough to handle these kind of matches”.
Cahill who has formerly worked with Simona Halep and currently coaches Italian ATP #7 Jannik Sinner is a big fan of the Murcia-native. The Australian doesn’t agree with the Alcaraz’s admission of him “not mature enough”.
Speaking on the Advantage Connors podcast, the top coach said: “He is an amazing young man, certainly very humble, very honest. He and Jannik are very alike in many many ways, that’s why they are good friends off the court as well because they do get along, they do think the same and they do want it as badly as everybody. Carlos is a bit ahead of Jannik, at the moment.
“I think what Carlos was able to achieve at Wimbledon was remarkable. Going from somebody that people were thinking ‘it will take a few years before he becomes a threat on grass’ and then twelve months later, he won the trophy, defeating Novak Djokovic in the final.
“That’s everything about how competitive Carlos is, his work, his determination, and also his maturity. He might say that he is not mature enough, but he is.”
After prevailing against Djokovic in a 5-set classic in the Wimbledon final, many tipped Alcaraz to dominate the North American hardcourt swing but that didn’t happen.
He started the summer hardcourt swing across the pond to reach the quarters of Canadian Open but fell against American Tommy Paul. He then reached the final of Cincinnati Open where he lost a 3-set blockbusters to Novak Djokovic in Western and Southern Open (Cincinnati Open). Playing for a second crown at Flushing Meadows, he was downed by #3 seed Medvedev in New York open.
Cahill suggests that the 2-time Slam champion got physically drained by his Wimbledon title run, however, he was impressed with the nerves of the youngster.
The former Halep coach added: “I think that [Wimbledon success] had a bit of a lag effect – physically and mentally – on him through the whole US summer.
“I don’t think he played great tennis in Toronto or Cincinnati, but he was just good enough to battle through some difficult situations in certainly in Cincinnati and play that amazing final against Novak. And that probably left him a little bit physically fatigued for the US Open.
“… You could tell that he was struggling a little physically in that semi-final against Medvedev. He didn’t show it, he still played every point like it was the last and he was there until the end and he made no excuses after that match. I love that about Carlos, I love the fact that he is playing tennis, tennis is lucky to have him and hopefully he stays injury free and we can have him at the top of the sport for a long, long time.”