Carlos Alcaraz needs mental adjustment after "hangover" from achieving big results, says tennis analyst

Tennis analyst Gill Gross recently suggested that Carlos Alcaraz needs to rejig his mindset in order to re-establish himself among the title winners. The Spaniard hasn't won a tournament since his Wimbledon triumph in July this year.

Alcaraz traveled to Toronto for the Canadian Open in August and went down to USA's Tommy Paul in the quarterfinals. He was then in Mason, Ohio, for a shot at the Cincinnati Masters title but was defeated by Novak Djokovic in the final.

The two-time Grand Slam champion then went to New York to defend his US Open title as the World No. 1. However, he could only manage a semifinal finish with a loss at the hands of Daniil Medvedev. He also lost his No. 1 ranking in the process to Djokovic.

Similar results followed the Spaniard in Asia as he went down to Jannik Sinner in the China Open semifinals and Grigor Dimitrov in the pre-quarterfinals at the Shanghai Masters. Gill Gross believes Alcaraz's inability to stay focused is to blame for his string of underwhelming results.

"There’s a mental adjustment that I think needs to be made. We talk about this with players who achieve really big things and have these big breakthrough results. There is often a hangover as a result of something like that happening," Gross said (via the Monday Match Analysis podcast).

"I’ve seen a lot of focus issues for Alcaraz. I would not give him high marks in focus, which is such a big thing mentally for tennis players. It is such an important attribute. It is under-discussed," he added.

Gross further backed his argument with a few insights from Carlos Alcaraz's previous performances, where his intensity dipped after getting a lead.

"You could say ‘Gill how do you know that it’s focus and not just he started playing worse?’ And my response to that is when the scoreboard suggests that you’ve reached a moment in a match where there could be a loss of focus and time and time again, Alcaraz responds with a dip in his level," he stated.

"An example, in Cincinnati, he’s up 5-2 against Hurkacz in the third set and completely just gets sloppy. Or he’s up a set and a break against Djokovic, who is not doing well physically… he [Carlos Alcaraz] throws in a terrible game at 4-2. I believe it was in the second [set]," Gross explained.

Carlos Alcaraz's mindset might have changed after beating Novak Djokovic at Wimbledon, suggests tennis analyst Gill Gross

Carlos Alcaraz (L) and Novak Djokovic

Carlos Alcaraz surprised the tennis world with a victory over Novak Djokovic in the summit clash at the 2023 Wimbledon Championships. The fact that Djokovic had not lost a match on Centre Court since 2013 made his achievement more special.

Gill Gross, however, suggested that the win changed something inside the 20-year-old's head for the worse.

"Beating Djokovic in a five-set Wimbledon final is a kind of another level and stuff might have changed a little bit in his head after that match and he [Carlos Alcaraz] needs to get used to that," Gross said.

If reports are to be believed, the Spaniard has decided to take a mini break from tennis.