Carlos Alcaraz suffered a tough defeat in the semifinals of Indian Wells 2025 against UK No. 1 Jack Draper. The Roland Garros champion was not in his best form and missed his chance to win his third consecutive crown in California.
Sadness for the world number 3, Carlos Alcaraz, after being eliminated in the semifinals of Indian Wells in a strange match, something that can be directly inferred by observing the result: 6-1, 0-6, 6-4 in favor of Jack Draper.
The British player has been on the rise in recent months, something that will be reflected in his ranking in the coming weeks, as he has secured a place among the top 10 in the world for the first time in his career by reaching the final of the tournament.
After the game, Alcaraz reflected on the possible causes of their defeat and this is what he had to say: "Maybe today when facing Draper, who was playing very well, very solid, with a game that in Indian Wells suits him quite well, I was more focused on how difficult the match could be, and on Jack's level, rather than on what I do well. That's what weighed on me today".
The Spaniard fell just short of joining Novak Djokovic as the only two to win the event three years in a row, but the Spaniard played it down:
"It's a tournament where I always want to win, I want to do well. The Federer and Djokovic thing is not something that was on my mind for a long time, it's things you think about from time to time, but it's not something I've paid much attention to."
Regarding the controversial call of the umpire in the third set, about a double bounce against Draper, Alcaraz said the following: "Well, not really. I mean, I didn't see if it was one bounce or two bounces at first. So I was just waiting for the review. I mean, and then, you know, with the second review, it was in the middle of the spot or after I hit it, so I wasn't sure enough. So I didn't hear, you know, as I hit the ball, but I wasn't sure enough to say anything."
"And, you know, waiting for the ball reviews, they didn't bother me at all. I mean, that way it was normal for review, so all I can say is Jack came in, played much better than I did. You know, that point didn't affect my game at all."
On this controversy…
— José Morgado (@josemorgado) March 16, 2025
Two big mistakes from Lahyani in three minutes.
- Pretty poor ‘not up’ call against Draper
- Inexplicable decision on the second VAR challenge as it was pretty obvious that his (very loud) call wasn’t late.
pic.twitter.com/zoGXeQg3bj
The Spaniard will lose some ranking points for not being able to defend his title at the Tennis Garden, but he will try to turn the page quickly and face the Miami Open in the best way possible:
"We are going to try to learn from today, from this defeat, there are many things that can be learned and I will try to go to Miami in the best way, with the desire to train, to improve. It is a tournament where I really like to play, I have played good tennis there, and what I said I will try to get to Miami and think about ourselves, what we do well," he said.