By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Saturday March 22, 2025
Carlos Alcaraz couldn’t find answers when faced with an uptick in aggression from David Goffin on Friday night.
Thus, the Spaniard suffered a surprise loss to the 34-year-old Belgian and will head to the clay season looking for solutions after failing to win titles at Indian Wells, where he was the defending two-time champion, and Miami, where he was a former champion.
Alcaraz, who will turn 22 on May 5, said his effort was a bit of a mystery to him.
“It was a poor level from me,” Alcaraz said, according to the ATP. “I just wanted to play better. After the first set, I thought I was going to be better. He played well, he played good tennis. My level didn’t increase. I think his level after the first set increased a little bit.”
Alcaraz had trouble dictating against Goffin, and he dropped serve four times in the match as he fell to 15-4 on the season. Not exactly a horrible record, but not what the Spaniard, who claimed his 17th title of his career at Rotterdam in February, was looking for.
True champion@carlosalcaraz #MiamiOpen pic.twitter.com/HGUMDzSDVg
— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) March 22, 2025
“I didn’t play well, physically I didn’t feel well. When you don’t have the confidence of your level physically, I think it’s really tough to maintain good tennis,” he said. “I didn’t feel well in my legs. I wasn’t injured, I wasn’t sick. I was feeling perfectly before the match.
“I felt good, a little bit nervous, which is normal before the match. But nothing more than that. I just felt ready, I thought that I was going to play really good tennis. It didn’t happen.”
