Carlos Alcaraz started the 2025 season with a couple of rather surprising defeats and the triumph at the ATP 500 in Rotterdam, which allowed him to break a small curse.
The young Spanish ace fell to Novak Djokovic in the quarter-finals of the Australian Open. This defeat to the Serbian legend can be considered surprising, because Nole is 38 years old and Carlitos was thought to have a clear advantage in a best-of-five-set match.
The 21-year-old from Murcia had also won the first set and looked set to avenge the defeat he suffered in the final of the Paris Olympics last summer. However, the four-time Grand Slam champion lost his concentration in the second half of the match and allowed Novak to reach yet another semi-final ‘Down Under’.
The other shock defeat was against Jiri Lehecka in the quarter-finals of the ATP 500 in Doha. After losing the first set, the former world number 1 had turned the match around and taken a break ahead in the third set before suffering a surprising comeback from the Czech ace.
Alcaraz works for the future
The world number 3’s record for the first month and a half of 2025 was saved with his triumph in Rotterdam, which allowed him to break a fast that lasted since October 2024 and lift his first trophy in indoor conditions.
It is no mystery that Carlos does not like to play in these conditions and his results confirm this.
According to his coach Juan Carlos Ferrero in a long interview with Eurosport, the decision to compete in the ATP 500 in Rotterdam was intended to allow the young Spaniard to gain more and more confidence on a terrain that is less favourable to him.
“Everyone knows that Carlitos is the one who struggles the most to play his best tennis on indoor courts and his results in the latter part of the season have never been brilliant until now. Having won in Rotterdam on this type of surface, where the ball bounces very little, will undoubtedly help him in the future.
“I am sure he will be better prepared in the final tournaments of the season,” Ferrero explained.
