Greg Rusedski believes that Carlos Alcaraz is in need of a break after enduring mental fatigue from the demanding stretch of the season he has been through.
The 1997 US Open runner-up believes the Spaniard displayed more frustration “from Canada all the way to the US Open” than he had previously in his career.
Alcaraz, who recently lost in four sets to Daniil Medvedev in the semi-finals of the 2023 US Open, played a lot of tennis in the months leading up to his title defence at the hard-court major.
In June, the 20-year-old reached the last four of the French Open and won his maiden grass-court title at the Queen’s Club Championships.
The following month, Alcaraz triumphed at Wimbledon with a thrilling five-set final win over Novak Djokovic, before featuring for Spain at the Hopman Cup the next week. Then, in August, he reached the Toronto quarter-finals and the Cincinnati final – where he fell to Djokovic in a marathon three-set contest.
The world No 2 withdrew from last week’s group stage of the David Cup Finals and explained his decision on social media: “I was very excited to play for 🇪🇸 Davis [Cup team] in Valencia, but I have to listen to my body after a very long tour. I need to stop and rest, physically and mentally.
“The calendar is very demanding, there is still a lot of season left, and now I have to recharge my batteries. Good luck to the Spanish team! 💪🏻 I will be supporting you strongly! Come on!”
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Speaking on an episode of Tennis Channel’s Inside-In podcast, Rusedski argued that the demanding recent period of the season has drained Alcaraz.
“I think that’s one of the reasons why he (Carlos Alcaraz) missed the Davis Cup. Because mentally he is so fatigued from everything that he’s been through. He needs a little break,” assessed the British-Canadian.
“Let’s not forget, from Canada all the way to the US Open, we saw more frustration in Carlos than we’ve seen throughout the last few years. So this is a nice time for him to reset.”
The former world No 4 – a tennis commentator and pundit for Amazon Prime Video – also discussed a potential Djokovic-Alcaraz final match-up at the ATP Finals in Turin.
“I think we could see that. I think Carlos has something to prove as he will be bitterly disappointed. He wants to throw the gauntlet down for the beginning of the year at Australian (Open). I think that he’s going to be in great shape physically and mentally,” said Rusedski.
“I do hope we get that final. But conditions also are pretty quick, pretty fast. And they have some Italian guy there they might be cheering for – [Jannik] Sinner. Djokovic in Italy is absolutely loved. He is the fan favourite. I have a lot of Italian friends, [to them it’s] ‘Djokovic, Djokovic, Djokovic.’”
