Days after hailing Carlos Alcaraz as the player with the best forehand on the tour, Mats Wilander has criticized the Spaniard for his mediocre performance at the 2024 Australian Open. Wilander also compared Alcaraz to Nick Kyrgios in the way he plays his shots. The former Swedish tennis ace pointed out the mistakes made during his quarterfinal match at the Australian Open.
Wilander highlighted how Alcaraz did not change his game plan to tackle his opponent, Alexander Zverev, who has a slightly different style of play. The former World No.1 claims that Alcaraz let Zverev walk away with few points early in the sets and this helped the German close the match in his favor.
The first few points in the match is what worries most people. You can’t do that when you play against Alexander Zverev. You can do that when you play against Rafa or Novak, where you have a chance to break and give yourself some time, but when you’re playing a guy like that, the first two points of [your] service game are huge because [if they] go up a break, that’s it, done. Mats Wilander pointed out when speaking to Eurosport.
The former Swedish ace then compared Alcaraz to Kyrgios. Wilander said that while he wants Alcaraz to win majors, he does not like it when he hits tweeners.
In the Wimbledon final against Djokovic, he started serving for the match with a drop shot, lost it, and then hit another drop shot, winning that to hold serve. Do we want him as a fan to change that? It’s the same as Nick Kyrgios. I’d like to see him win majors, but do I want him to hit tweeners? I’m not really sure. Alcaraz is sort of similar. Wilander opined.
Barbara Schett and Laura Robson claim it’s just a lack of discipline for Carlos Alcaraz
As Mats Wilander strongly criticized Carlos Alcaraz for his gameplan against Alexander Zverev, Laura Robson and Barbara Schett pointed out that it was just a lack of discipline for the Spaniard and that everyone needs to be a bit patient.
Schett refused to agree with Wilander on comparing Alcaraz to Kyrgios. The former Austrian tennis star said that while Nick Kyrgios is a showman, Alcaraz is young and it was just a bad gameplan from the 20-year-old.
I don’t see him as a showman, really. Nick Kyrgios, Gael Monfils, and Frances Tiafoe are showmen. Alcaraz is so young and he has those matches every now and then where he doesn’t have a game plan. He’s not very disciplined with his shot selection. That was the case [against Zverev]. We have to give him some time; those matches don’t happen that often anymore. Barbara Schett pointed out.
It is worth mentioning that Alcaraz lost to Zverev in four sets in the Australian Open quarterfinal. The Spaniard looked troubled right from the start as he lost the first two sets by huge margins. Although he made a comeback in the third set and won it in the tiebreak, Alcaraz could not save the match as he lost the next set.
The 20-year-old has failed to win a title ever since his Wimbledon win. While Alcaraz struggled with an injury in the last leg of the season, he did not dish out any convincing performance after the US Open semifinal qualification. He also had a first-round exit at the Paris Masters. It is to be seen when Alcaraz wins his next title.
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