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Tennis analyst Gill Gross believes that Carlos Alcaraz's title drought and results since his Wimbledon triumph seem disappointing only because of the high expectations set by the Spaniard himself on tour.
Alcaraz enjoyed a brilliant first half of the season, winning five events across nine tournaments. A maiden Wimbledon title triumph set up the Spaniard well for the North American and Asian swing. However, the 20-year-old has had a string of underwhelming results since then.
Alcaraz dropped down to No. 2 in the World rankings and a massive 2,830 points separate him from top-ranked Novak Djokovic. Despite the collapse, Gross backed Alcaraz and credited him for his achievements until Wimbledon.
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"The majority of the tournaments that Carlos Alcaraz has played from his start of the season to Wimbledon, the majority of his main draws, he won the title," Gross said during the Monday Match Analysis podcast.
Gross opined that a strong run at the start of the season has massively raised the Spaniard's expectations.
"And that's why it feels like this big downturn because he hasn't won a title since Wimbledon. In reality, he has had a pretty solid stretch of tennis by almost any player standards. It feels like it's been disappointing because of the expectations that a 20-year-old Alcaraz has set. Perspective!," he continued.
Although Alcaraz has not won a title since Wimbledon, he still has a decent win-loss record. The Spaniard has won 16 of his last 21 matches after July, with a 76.19% win rate.
Carlos Alcaraz: I always say that you can improve more from defeats than wins
Carlos Alcaraz's Asian swing came to an end on Wednesday, October 11, following a shocking third-round defeat to Grigor Dimitrov at the Shanghai Masters. Despite an underwhelming campaign, the Spaniard focused on the positive aspects.
During a press conference in Shanghai, Alcaraz opined that defeats are more essential for improvement than wins.
"I always say that you can improve more from the defeats than the wins. After this trip, I took a lot of lessons to improve, to be better," he said.
Alcaraz also emphasized the need to work on a few aspects in practice before upcoming tournaments.
"As I said in Beijing, I have to work on a few things to beat the best guys, and after this loss, it [happened] not too much time ago, so I have to think about it. But I will take a lot of lessons to improve in practice before the tournaments that I have ahead," he added.
As per recent reports, Carlos Alcaraz has decided to take a short break from tennis before returning to practice at the Ferrero Tennis Academy on Thursday, October 19.
