"It will put more pressure on him": Patrick Mouratoglou gives take on Carlos Alcaraz's 'unusual' comments after Miami Open exit

Tennis coach Patrick Mouratoglou believes that Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz’s words after losing at the Miami Open can come back to haunt him. The 21-year-old, who is already regarded as one of the best players currently playing in men’s tennis in the singles category, has been going through a difficult on the court.

He was recently featured in the Miami Open, where he was knocked out after losing in the round of 64 to David Goffin with a score of 5-7, 6-4, 6-3. After that match, Alcaraz commented that he lost because he focused on his opponent.

“I always say that I have to be focused on myself, on my own game,” Alcaraz said. “I think today I was more worried about his level, his game, than myself… So when you’re thinking more about the opponent than yourself, then it is a big problem. So that’s what happened. Since the beginning of the day, since the morning, I was thinking about his game, because he’s really tough, he’s really solid, and it’s going to be a really physical match.”

Mouratoglou has recently spoken to Tennis 365 where he stated that Alcaraz’s words are ‘unusual’ and that those words might come back to haunt them. “It was a choice for him to say that. I don’t know if it was good or not,” said Mouratoglou. “If it helps him to take it out of his system to say it, to admit it, why not? Most other players would not say it, that is his choice. We will see how he plays now after he has said this. We will see if he feels less pressure now that he has said this, that he admitted his weakness of that moment. Maybe the fact that he verbalised it will put more pressure on him, we’ll see. It is unusual to hear this. I don’t know if this is a Spanish thing, but I remember that Rafa had a period in his career when he was losing a lot of matches and he was saying that he kind of lost his mental strength, he admitted it.”