"Carlos Alcaraz's brain is still broken from losing gold medal" - Serena Williams' ex-coach Rennae Stubbs on Spaniard's Cincinnati Open racket smash

Serena Williams' ex-coach Rennae Stubbs has delivered her assessment of Carlos Alcaraz smashing his racket during his second-round loss to Gael Monfils at the recently-concluded Cincinnati Open. According to Stubbs, that rare instance of on-court behavior from the Spaniard stemmed from his loss to Novak Djokovic in the men's singles gold medal match at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

Alcaraz had a memorable debut outing at the Olympics this year, bagging the silver medal in men's singles and reaching the men's doubles quarterfinals alongside Rafael Nadal. However, the Spaniard was clearly heartbroken after Djokovic stunned him 7-6(3), 7-6(2) in the gold medal match on Sunday, August 4.

At one point after the conclusion of the match, Alcaraz broke down in tears, which reflected how much the defeat meant to him. Fast forward to the Cincinnati Open, and the four-time Major winner squared off against veteran Frenchman Gael Monfils in the second round on Thursday, August 15. Astonishingly, it marked back-to-back defeats to 37-year-olds for the former World No. 1, as Monfils registered a 4-6, 7-6(5), 6-4 win.

Frustrated with his own erratic display, there came a moment during the clash when Alcaraz let loose, smashing his racket on the court repeatedly, with never-before-seen rage. Recently, Rennae Stubbs, who coached the legendary Serena Williams for what turned out to be her farewell campaign at the 2022 US Open, shared her opinion on what caused Alcaraz's uncharacteristic outburst.

Stubbs said on The Rennae Stubbs Tennis Podcast that Alcaraz's behavior on the day was an "anomaly". The former WTA World No. 1 in doubles also spoke about how the Spaniard is regarded as "the happiest and most-liked person in the locker room" along with Frances Tiafoe by his ATP Tour colleagues.

"This was such an anomaly to see Carlos Alcaraz lose his mind like that. Our sweet little baby Carlitos, who is literally the nicest guy. I did a Q&A with all the players at Cincinnati and the question I asked every single guy was, 'Who's the happiest and most-liked person in the locker room?', and every single one of them either said Frances Tiafoe or Carlos Alcaraz," Stubbs said (at 27:24).

The 53-year-old went on to say that Alcaraz is yet to fully recover from his defeat to Djokovic at the Paris Olympics. According to Stubbs, this contributed to the Spaniard destroying his racket in Cincinnati. She also suggested that physical exhaustion played a role in the former World No. 1's behavior at the ATP Masters 1000, which he later apologized for.

"His brain is still broken from losing the gold medal. I think he's played a lot of tennis and he's got a lot of pressure on his shoulders now. I think he's tired now. Anyone who came off of playing at the Olympics and was playing in Cincinnati was just, mentally and physically drained," Stubbs added.

Novak Djokovic predicts multiple Olympic gold medals for Carlos Alcaraz

Novak Djokovic (L) and Carlos Alcaraz (R) (Source: Getty)

Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz featured prominently in the Stars of the Open charity event at the 2024 US Open. Here, the duo faced each other in doubles, with the Serb partnering John McEnroe and the Spaniard pairing up with Andre Agassi.

After the exhibition match, which went Djokovic and McEnroe's way, the Serb jokingly expressed his gratitude to Alcaraz for letting him clinch the Olympic gold medal. Djokovic went on to predict that the Spaniard is well on his way to bagging multiple gold medals at the prestigious Games in the years ahead.

"I told Carlos at the net when we finished the final that I was very grateful to him for letting me win the gold. He’s probably going to have like 3 gold medals before he retires," Djokovic said.

Despite his rare, off-color showing in Cincinnati, Alcaraz would be confident ahead of his 2024 US Open campaign. The Spaniard has featured in the hardcourt Major on three occasions (2021, 2022, 2023), and reached at least the quarterfinals each time. In 2022, Alcaraz won the US Open men's singles title after coming out on top against Casper Ruud in the final.