August 16, 2024: Will it forever be remembered in tennis circles as the day Carlos Alcaraz destroyed his racket?
The Spaniard has charmed us for the past four years with his ever-present smile. Few champions, if any, have taken defeat as well or shown less anger on the court. But as we discovered Friday at the Cincinnati Open, frustration can build in any of us, including Carlitos.
The decisive moment came when Alcaraz’s opponent, Gael Monfils, held his serve to take a 3-1 lead in the third set with a high volley winner. As the ball bounced a second time a few feet away, Alcaraz leapt, crouched and slammed his racket into the court, with maximum force, four times, leaving the frame mangled like a sculpture you might see in an avant-garde art gallery. Roger Federer fans may recall how the usually gentle Maestro suddenly decimated his Wilson racket – with a single smash – in a loss to Novak Djokovic in Miami in 2009.
