Carlos Alcaraz hurt by online criticism: “I see a lot of the comments that the people give to you”

A year ago, Carlos Alcaraz walked out of the California desert as the undisputed future of men’s tennis, and a certified sporting phenomenon. The teenager had just won his first Indian Wells title without dropping a set, and had dispatched two of his main rivals, Jannik Sinner and Daniil Medvedev, in the semis and final without much trouble. By the time it was over, he was the No. 1 player in the world again.

“I would say this has been the perfect tournament,” Alcaraz said. No one accused him of exaggerating.

The sky seemed to the limit on the number of major titles Alcaraz would win in the coming decades—10, 20, 30? But even as a 19-year-old, he seemed to understand there would be tougher days ahead. Before he left, he gave us a hint of the more difficult reality below the gleaming surface of his young career.

“I did perfect today,” Alcaraz said after ending Medvedev’s 19-match win streak in the final. “That’s why it looks so easy, but it wasn’t.”

Twelve months later, we understand the truth behind those last three words. Nothing looks quite as easy as it did back then for Alcaraz. Over the past year, he did win his first Wimbledon title, but he also endured a series of reality checks and teachable moments.

Alcaraz learned the limits of his exuberant physicality when he cramped and lost to Sinner in Miami and Novak Djokovic at Roland Garros. He showed that, when his game isn’t clicking, he can fall to opponents as unheralded as Fabian Marozsan and Roman Safiullin. And he hasn’t won a tournament since last July.

All of it, Alcaraz admitted on Sunday, was finally enough to darken his famously sunny disposition during the South America swing in February.

“It was difficult months for me,” Alcaraz said. “My confidence go down a little bit, and I have been struggling during the practice every day, try to keep my confidence high or as high as I can. Trying to be myself every day.”

Alcaraz doesn’t seem to have a problem focusing on the process, as they say, rather than the results.

“I’m not looking to losses or winning,” he says. “I’m looking in every match how I feel, how I hit the ball, how I move.”

“For me, it’s about feelings.”

Alcaraz plays with an electric athleticism that’s new to tennis. But his personality, and his attitude toward winning and losing, are also new.

While everyone understands, logically, that losses happen, it still takes most of us some time to get over them emotionally. But when Alcaraz suffers a defeat, even to an opponent we all know he should beat, he has no problem offering him a hearty handshake and a wide smile of congratulations; so much so that many of his opponents look apologetic for beating him. As Alcaraz says, the important thing for him is to feel and play like himself—to be Carlitos. While he obviously doesn’t like to lose, he also doesn’t seem to take his defeats personally.

What he does take personally, unfortunately, is what he reads on social media. Alcaraz admits that being a typically phone-addicted Gen Zer can be hard on your self-confidence.

“I’m a guy that see a lot of the phone, and I see a lot of the comments that the people give to you,” he says. “Most of them are really good ones, but a few of them is the bad ones. You know, it’s difficult to deal with it, but that’s what I’m trying to do, to stay away from everything, be myself, and enjoy every single time that I stop on the court.”

It was difficult months for me. My confidence go down a little bit, and I have been struggling during the practice every day, try to keep my confidence high or as high as I can. Carlos Alcaraz

I’ve critiqued Alcaraz’s game online, and criticized his loss of focus and sometimes-reckless shot selection after some of his defeats. But that go-for-broke showmanship is also a big part of why we love to watch him, and what raises him above his competition. For his first two years on tour, his style was risky, but it worked, and all he heard was praise. Now that it’s not working quite as well, he has to deal with the criticism, and the self-doubt it can bring.

For me, the issue with Alcaraz isn’t so much his shot choices, but his habit of taking his foot off the gas, of not getting the second break in a set, of building a lead and giving it back.

Maybe he and coach Juan Carlos Ferrero have been focusing on that, too. On Sunday, in his match against Felix Auger-Aliassime, Alcaraz did get the second break in each set, and didn’t concede the early lead.

“I felt really well in the court,” Alcaraz said, sounding happier than he has recently. “I played at a really high level of tennis.”

The next step in his title defense is a rematch with Marozsan, something he says he’s been looking forward to since the Hungarian stunned him last year in Rome. Aside from his desire for revenge, though, he’s trying not to put any extra pressure on himself.

“I think the first thing you have to do if you want to defend the title is you forget [that] you won the title last year,” Alcaraz says.

“It’s about being yourself, being 100 percent every day if you want to do a good result here.”