"I leave the court with a smile, healthy, and this is what I need" - Carlos Alcaraz seeks positive perspective following gut-wrenching end to US Open title defence

At 3:33 in the morning after four hours and 28 minutes of gruelling tennis in the quarter-final of the US Open, Carlos Alcaraz still managed to muster a smile as he met Ben Shelton at the net following their titanic battle. To make this more remarkable, it was after he lost 6-7(5), 6-2, 6-3, 1-6, 7-6(7), showing his incredible sporting nature as he reacted to the devastating defeat with his title defence falling short.

In a way, it was a huge achievement for Alcaraz to be playing here at all, let alone playing five intense sets against one of the best players in the world. This was his first tournament back after a long period on the sidelines after a frustrating wrist injury meant the layoff was a painful and enduring one.

Eventually the Spaniard was deemed fit enough to compete, and right in the nick of time. His quality on the court was for show as he dropped just one set in his opening four wins against Roman Safiulin, Jaime Faria, Yibing Wu and Tommy Paul before Shelton was his next test.

After coming out on top in the first set, the seven-time Grand Slam champion soon fell behind as he won just four of the next 16 games with Shelton ravenous for more. However, Alcaraz responded like a champion with a mentality to match. A 6-1 scoreline went his way in the fourth set as 12 consecutive holds followed in suit which set up a highly anticipated tiebreak for a spot in the semi-finals.

Shelton kicked on at the end, leaving Alcaraz in his dust as his comeback culminated in a last-eight defeat. Both 23-year-olds put on an amazing show on court that touted a bright future for the sport.

In this time back on the court, Alcaraz showcased what many tennis fans had been missing out on in his time recovering. He had to helplessly watch on as his main rival Jannik Sinner took home titles in Madrid, Rome and Wimbledon while Alexander Zverev capitalised on his absence at Roland Garros. He was not ready to compete in either Canada or Cincinnati which not only dented his US Open hopes, but left many sceptical about his decision to return at a tournament like this one.

The best-of-five set format has not seemed to aggravate the wrist and while he failed to prevail in the quarter-final, Alcaraz most certainly proved that he is in competitive shape with the rest of 2026 nicely set up.

Thanks to the late finish, any chance of a press conference was scuppered with a small media huddle on the scene to get Alcaraz's raw thoughts from the defeat.

He took the positive that he was able to get to this stage, but the loss still meant that he was not 100% there yet. "Well, as I said before the tournament began, my expectation was to go there, compete, playing these kind of matches for me, being healthy. So it was close, it really was close."

There was a sense of pride that filled Alcaraz as he noted his reaction to going down 2-1 following a barren spell. "I'm just a little bit disappointed about not getting the win at the end, but I'm just happy. I'm just proud of myself, about how I fought after the third set. Physically, I was really tired, but I found a way to push myself up and physically give an extra. And in the fifth, I just started to feel better and better."

Nevertheless, it was not a case of Alcaraz collapsing on court. Shelton played a brilliant game, and was deservingly getting his props by the former World No.1. "But I was playing against someone that is a beast, you know. Shelton is an unbelievable player, powerful. He just managed how to play really well in every situation, so great to him. But I just leave the court happy. I leave the court with a smile, healthy, and this is what I need."

Alcaraz was a continuous challenge throughout against Shelton, showing off why he is one of the best players in the world despite his preparation not being totally ideal. He praised his serve in one particularly pivotal moment in the contest, but overall it was for nothing.

"Well, the serve is a really good weapon in these kind of situations. But sometimes you win, sometimes you lose," he commented.

He gave a nod to the enthralling 2025 Roland Garros final against Jannik Sinner where he came out on top in a super tiebreak finish. That match he also came back from a deficit, 2-0 instead of 2-1, but the end result was different.

"I remember the last tiebreak that I played was in Paris. It was an unbelievable game that I played in that moment," he recalled. "This time, when you're trying to fight and trying to overcome all the problems you might have, physically tired a lot, and obviously when he's serving, he puts a lot of pressure on you."

With someone who boasts as big of a serve as Shelton, it is always going to be hard to muster up any sort of a competitive return, especially when he is on song. "You're thinking about trying to put the return in, and it's unknown if you're going to play the point or he's going to get a free point with the serve. So I think in these moments he takes a lot of advantage with the serve. Not any excuse, but I would say it's an important weapon in those moments."

This may be the end of Alcaraz's US Open title defence, but it is most certainly not the end of his season. He will be featuring on the Asian swing in the Japan Open and Shanghai Masters before travelling back to Europe to feature at the Paris Masters. Albeit, with his recent schedule comments he may go back on that schedule, especially with the ATP Finals very much on his bucket list.