Darren Cahill, who coaches World No. 7 Jannik Sinner, has described Carlos Alcaraz as showing incredible maturity despite the Spaniard's own remarks about himself.
20-year-old Alcaraz has already achieved a lot for his age, having lifted two Grand Slam trophies and holding the No. 1 position in the ATP Ranking for a total of 36 weeks. A couple of months ago, the young talent seemed to be on top of the world, defeating seven-time Wimbledon champion Novak Djokovic in the final of this year's grasscourt major after a five-set battle.
However, the current World No. 2 faced some recent disappointment at the US Open when he failed to defend his title in New York, suffering a shock defeat to Daniil Medvedev in the semi-finals. In the final, Djokovic ousted the Russian in straight sets to win his 24th major title.
After his defeat at Flushing Meadows, Alcaraz gave a damning review of his performance on the court, saying he was 'not mature enough' to handle these types of matches.
"After 3-3 in the first tie-break I lose my mind. Played three or four bad points. Didn’t think at all about what I was doing. It was tough for me. In the second set I was almost in the moon and he was playing great.
"These kind of matches can happen even if I feel that I’m a better player at the moment. I couldn’t find solutions. He was great. I thought I was mature enough to find solutions when things aren’t going my way. After this match I changed my mind. I am not.
"I don’t think I’m gonna think about this loss for a long time. Of course I wanna learn about that and be better. Matches like this help you to be better. I will need to talk to my team and understand how I can improve," he said.
Speaking on Jimmy Connors' Advantage Connors podcast, Cahill praised Alcaraz and dismissed the notion that he is not mature enough by using his performance at Wimbledon as an example.
"I think what Carlos was able to achieve at Wimbledon was remarkable. People used to think 'it will take a few years before he becomes a threat on grass', and then twelve months later, he won the trophy, defeating Novak Djokovic in the final.
"That's everything about how competitive Carlos is, his work, his determination, and also his maturity. He might say that he is not mature enough, but he is," he said.
Jannik Sinner's coach Darren Cahill with some great words about Alcaraz (via Advantage Connors). "He is an amazing young man, certainly very humble, very honest. He and Jannik are very alike in many many ways, that's why they are good friends off the court... Carlos is a bit…
