Carlos Alcaraz apologised for smashing his racket in his loss to Gael Monfils at the Cincinnati Open as he shared a harsh assessment of his behaviour.
The Spaniard reflected his attitude during the match was “not correct” and proclaimed that breaking rackets “is something that should not be done on the court.”
Alcaraz fell to a 6-4, 6-7(5), 4-6 upset defeat to Gael Monfils in the second round at the 2024 Cincinnati Masters in his first match since the Paris Olympics.
It was Alcaraz’s first loss to Monfils in his third encounter with the 37-year-old Frenchman, who is currently ranked 46th.
After Monfils held serve to take a 3-1 lead in the third set, Alcaraz’s frustration boiled over and he destroyed his racket by repeatedly smashing it on the court.
Alcaraz is far from being the only player to break a racket in anger during a match, but he was not happy with himself for reacting how he did.
In a post shared on social media, Alcaraz wrote: “I apologise because my attitude yesterday was not correct and it is something that should not be done on the court.
“I am human, I had a lot of nerves inside and sometimes it is very difficult to control yourself when your heart rate is so high. I will work so that it does not happen again. Time to think about NYC!”
In his press conference after his defeat to Monfils, Alcaraz admitted he had lost control of his emotions in a match for the first time.
“I felt sometimes that I wanted to break the racket. It never happened before, because I could control myself in those situations, in those feelings,” said the 21-year-old Spaniard.
“Most of the time I could control myself and it could go better in the matches or in the situation that I’ve been feeling before.
“Today, I couldn’t control myself, because, as I said, I was feeling that I was not playing any kind of tennis.
“I think some players, a lot of players, during their careers and during certain moments, they can’t control themselves. And it was one of the moments for me.”
