Carlos Alcaraz apologized on Saturday for breaking his racket during his Cincinnati Open round of 32 loss to Gael Monfils.
Alcaraz lost the fourth game of the third set on Friday to tie Monfils at one set apiece and then slammed his racket on the ground four times, twisting it and losing its shape.
“My attitude yesterday was not right and I apologize for what I should not have done on the track,” Alcaraz said. In X’s apology letterAccording to a translated version, he said: “I’m human too. I get nervous inside and sometimes it’s hard to control myself when my heart rate is too high. I will try to make sure this never happens again. Think New York!”
Alcaraz, the current world’s top tennis player and former world number one, told reporters after his 4-6, 7-6 (7-5), 6-4 loss to Monfils that Friday’s match felt like “the worst match I’ve ever played.”
Alcaraz was given a bye into the round of 64 and reached the round of 32, but could not advance any further despite already having won four Grand Slam titles before the U.S. Open begins on Aug. 26.
“Practice went really well,” Alcaraz told reporters after the loss. “I felt great, but I didn’t play. I’m just going to forget it and head to New York.”
For Alcaraz, it has been a largely successful year.
After losing to Alexander Zverev in the Australian Open quarterfinals, he won the French Open beating Zverev in five sets and then beat Novak Djokovic at Wimbledon.
He also advanced to the gold medal match at the 2024 Olympics, but Djokovic beat Alcaraz in straight sets, leaving the 21-year-old from Spain to have to settle for silver.
The draw for the U.S. Open has yet to be announced, but Alcaraz will once again enter the tournament as one of the top seeds.
Last year, he lost just one set in the first five rounds before losing to Daniil Medvedev in the semifinals.
