Carlos Alcaraz made a heartbreaking confession as he explained why he was in floods of tears after losing the Olympics gold medal match to Novak Djokovic.
The 21-year-old went 0/8 on break points and ultimately lost in two close sets 7-6(3) 7-6(2). Immediately after the match, he started crying and had to stop a TV interview so he could gather himself.
After the match, Alcaraz addressed his emotional reaction and shared his disappointment.
I thought that I let all the Spanish people down a little bit, in some way,” the world No. 3 admitted. “I know that most of the Spanish people were waiting for my gold medal. And myself as well, I worked for it, I went for it [and] it couldn’t happen so that’s why I got emotional at the end because I couldn’t make all the Spanish people proud.
But less than two hours after his defeat, Alcaraz was already feeling better. He added: “But thinking about that moment, it was really close at the end of the match. I couldn’t think [about] the things clearly and that’s why I got emotional at the end. But I’m right now thinking, I’m going to say more relaxed. I think I made them proud, I made them believe in a certain way. And I’m proud about the way I represented my flag.”
The gold medal match marked the first big final that Alcaraz lost in his career. He is four out of four in Grand Slam finals, including two wins against Djokovic at Wimbledon. And he admitted that he was feeling the pressure at the Paris Games.
It’s a little bit different,” he said of the Grand Slam matches compared to Sunday’s Olympics final. “I mean, I was playing for the gold medal, I was playing for Spain and it is not the same. I have played four Grand Slam finals and in the difficult moments, in the tough situations, I increased my level, I played really great tennis.
“And today probably I felt more the pressure. Maybe other players are not playing in the same way or feeling the pressure about playing for his flag, for his country. Pobably myself, I felt the pressure in those situations that I couldn’t play my best tennis so I could feel the difference about playing Grand Slams and playing the final of Olympic Games.”
The world No. 3 also explained that the tension was heightened by the lack of opportunity to win the Olympics. He continued: “I play four Grand Slams every year and Olympic Games is one every four years so probably you could feel the pressure playing. As I said, I could feel [it].
After having time to reflect, Alcaraz will walk away happy with his Olympic debut. But he is keen to learn from the final. “I’m really proud and I’m leaving the court, I’m leaving the tournament with my head really, really high knowing that I gave everything on the court, I gave everything that I could on court today and I will [be] back stronger and I hope to learn from this situation,” he said.
It’s not the first time the world No. 3 suffered a crushing loss to Djokovic on Court Philippe-Chatrier. After he bounced back from a tough one last year to win Wimbledon, he believes he can do the same again after the Olympics.
Alcaraz added: ” remember last year sitting in this seat, 2023 I said that I’m going to learn from the moment that I lost against Novak [in the French Open semi-final] and I did. After that, I’m going to say the same. I’m going to learn from this moment to be a better player, I’m not going to make the same mistakes as I did today and I got a lot of experience so I think after that I’m going to be a better player, I’m going to be more mature off the court as well.
