Paul Annacone discusses Carlos Alcaraz's lost 'joy' and season struggles

Ex-coach of the former world number one Roger Federer, Paul Annacone, has highlighted the Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz lost a ‘little bit of joy’ after suffering a defeat in the gold medal match at the Paris Olympics. The 21-year-old is already regarded as one of the best players currently playing in men’s tennis in the singles category along with the likes of Italy’s Jannik Sinner.

Alcaraz has had an impressive 2024 season where for the first time in his career, he lifted two out of the four Grand Slams. He lifted the French Open title after beating Germany’s Alexander Zverev in the final in a five-set thriller with a score of 6–3, 2–6, 5–7, 6–1, 6–2. He then lifted the Wimbledon title for the second time in two years after beating former world number one Serbia’s Novak Djokovic in the final in straight sets with a score of 6-2, 6-2, 7-6.

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However, Alcaraz’s season deteriorated towards the second-half of the season where struggled to maintain consistency. The world number three’s last appearance was in the ATP Finals where he failed to book a spot in the semifinal after losing two out of three matches. Ex-coach of former world number one Federer, Annacone, has been recently quoted in a report where he highlighted that the primary reason behind Alcaraz’s struggle in the latter stages of the season was because of losing in the final of the gold medal match at the Paris Olympics.

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“You have to find what motivates you and stick with it,” he said. “And I think Carlos Alcaraz is a joyful player. I think this year he lost a little bit of that joy, for a multitude of reasons. I think one of his greatest accomplishments was one of the biggest obstacles he had to overcome this year, which was getting ‘only’ a silver medal. That’s a great accomplishment, but I think it broke his heart a little bit at the Olympics, and I think it messed him up a little bit for the rest of the summer.”