"Not the best, to be honest": Carlos Alcaraz makes his feelings known about US Open mixed doubles schedule after lifting Cincinnati Open

Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz has had a great week in Cincinnati, where he ended up lifting the title for the first time. The final against world number one Jannik Sinner turned out to be a disappointing event for everyone involved as the four-time Grand Slam winner was forced to retire just after 24 minutes because of illness.

After securing the win, Alcaraz wished Sinner the best of luck to return to full fitness. Alcaraz also admitted that he was not looking to win the title like that. “This is not the way that I want to win trophies, I just have to say sorry, I can understand how you must feel now,” said Alcaraz to Sinner during the prize distribution ceremony. “As I said many times, you are a true champion and I am sure from these situations, you are going to come back even stronger, as you always do. That’s what true champions do. I’m sorry and come back stronger.”

Alcaraz’s next assignment is set to be the US Open mixed doubles event. The fourth and final Grand Slam of the year, for the first time, will be played in two different parts. The first part will consist of a mixed doubles event, which will be played as a standalone competition with a prize money worth of $1 million up for grabs. The competition will feature 16 teams, out of which eight will qualify directly based on the players' singles rankings, whereas the other eight will qualify via the wildcard entry.

One of the teams that received a wildcard entry into the main round of the competition consists of Alcaraz and Britain’s Emma Raducanu. Interestingly, they will have their first match on Tuesday, a day after Alcaraz lifts the Cincinnati Open title. Alcaraz and Raducanu will face off against the pair of America’s Jessica Pegula and Britain’s Jack Draper.

Alcaraz was asked about his preparation for the upcoming mixed doubles event at the US Open after winning the Cincinnati Open. In response to that, the men’s world number two admitted that it is not ideal to play in such a competition without a day’s break but still, he is excited to feature in the competition.

"It's good,” said Alcaraz. “The scheduling is not the best to be honest, playing tomorrow. But the concept of the mixed doubles, I love it. It's going to be new for me, which I love. I'm going to have so much fun, playing with Emma. I will try to enjoy as much as I can. I will try to see how the court is going to be, the balls, everything. "I will treat it as a really important and good preparation for me. I will try to be at my best tomorrow after the trip to New York. I'm probably going to sleep late, but I will try to bring my best tennis to help Emma get the win then let's see if we will get it, it's going to be fun and great to have those matches."

There has been a lot excitement about the two players pairing up for the mega-event. When the two players decided to pair up, Alcaraz stated that he is ready to play as the ‘second fiddle’ with Raducanu ‘the boss’.

“She's going to be the boss,” he said back then. “The US Open came to us and gave us the opportunity to play mixed doubles. I'm super excited about it, it's going to be great, it was an amazing idea from the tournament. I've known Emma since a long time ago – I have a really good relationship with her so it's going to be interesting. We are going to enjoy [it] for sure, I'll try to put my doubles skills on and we'll try to win.”