Alex Corretja hopes Carlos Alcaraz doesn’t play in this tournament after Wimbledon’s final loss

Carlos Alcaraz’s bid to win the Wimbledon Championship for the third consecutive time was crushed after he lost to Jannik Sinner in the final. Also, the Spaniard’s 24-match winning streak came to an end at the tournament. That has led former Spanish player Alex Corretja to plead with his fellow countryman not to play this tournament.

Alcaraz was the heavy favorite to win Wimbledon after he claimed his second Queen’s Club Championships in June. The 22-year-old was playing his best tennis of his career and had only lost once in over three months. At the All England Club, he dropped only five sets before the final against Sinner.

He won the first set of the blockbuster Wimbledon final against Sinner, but then failed to increase the tempo of his game even after his opponent did the same. The Spaniard lost control of the match and allowed the World No.1 to come from behind to win 4-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 to win his maiden Grand Slam title.

Nonetheless, Wimbledon was Alcaraz’s sixth tournament in the space of three months. Out of the six tournaments, he won four and reached the final in all. During a conversation on Marca, Alex Corretja pointed out that Alcaraz needs a long rest after the defeat as he needs to arrive at his best shape for the second half of the season:

I think Carlos Alcaraz needs a rest right now, so that in the second half of the season, when he sometimes loses some steam, he doesn’t really arrive so lame for the rest of the season.

The former World No.2 then issued a plea that Alcaraz and his coach need to agree that he would miss the Canadian Open, which starts on July 26. The Spaniard added that Alcaraz needs to skip the first North American hard-court swing Masters event:

I never interfere with the schedule my great friend Juan Carlos Ferrero decides with Carlos Alcaraz, but I just hope he doesn’t go to. I say this with all the affection and respect for the Canadian tournament. But I think Alcaraz would need to recover from all these efforts now. I think Carlos Alcaraz needs a bit of rest right now, so that in the second half of the season, when he sometimes loses some steam, he doesn’t really end up feeling so weak for the rest of the season.

Alcaraz didn’t play the 2024 Canadian Open due to his participation at the Paris Olympics, so he has no points to defend at the tournament. Also, if Alcaraz doesn’t participate in the tournament, it will give him more time to get to his rhythm ahead of the Cincinnati Open and eventually the US Open in August.

Carlos Alcaraz rues his missed chances against Jannik Sinner in the Wimbledon final

Carlos Alcaraz’s loss to Jannik Sinner became clear after he allowed the Italian to break him in the second set, while the match was 4-4. That was the turning point of the game as from then on, the Italian star kept breaking the Spaniard until the end of the match. In fact, Alcaraz last broke the Italian in the second set and never did so until the end.