Carlos Alcaraz was gracious in defeat after falling to a surprise loss at the hands of Grigor Dimitrov in the quarter-finals of the Miami Open. The young Spaniard was at the mercy of his opponent for large parts of the match, with Dimitrov making his experience count to earn an impressive 6-2 6-4 victory.
Dimitrov quickly gained the upper hand, leaving Alcaraz stunned with a series of brilliant passing shots as well as an incredible backhand to wrap up the opening set. He went on to race into a 4-1 lead in set two before Alcaraz gave himself a fighting chance by using his powerful forehand to break Dimitrov’s serve.
However, it was too little, too late from the Spaniard as Dimitrov held his nerve to see out the set and book his place in the semi-finals of the Miami Open. Alcaraz showed his true colours after the match by giving full credit to his opponent rather than making excuses for his own performance, with plenty of respect on show from the 20-year-old.
“I think I played good tennis,” said Alcaraz. I mean, I left the court thinking that probably I had to change my game a little bit earlier, but anyway, I feel like I played a good tennis. Not perfect but a good one.
“But I feel, let’s say, I have a lot of frustrations right now, because he made me feel like I’m 13 years old. You know, it was crazy. I was talking to my team saying that I don’t know what I have to do. I don’t know, you know, his weakness. I don’t know anything.
“That’s why I have frustration right now, but, you know, in the thought of tennis, I left the court happy with my level.”
Alcaraz went on to admited that he found it tough to keep up with the standards being set by Dimitrov, who stepped up his game to keep the two-time Grand Slam champion at arm’s length.
“I really want to see the stats,” he added. “You know, probably they’re going to rank him 10 or 9.9, something like that, but I don’t know. I don’t know. Once you step on the court, it’s even tougher to find solutions to see, you know, where you have to go or what you have to do.
“Probably the next match that I’m going to play against him, and I’m sure that there’s going to be another one, I try to do a lot of different things. Let’s see what it’s gonna be but, you know, seeing Grigor playing at this level, it’s really tough to play against him.”
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