I couldn’t handle the pressure – Carlos Alcaraz after knocking out of Canadian Open

Spain’s young sensation Carlos Alcaraz admitted that he could not handle the pressure after he was knocked out from the Canadian Open. America’s Tommy Paul defeated Alcaraz by 6-7, 7-6, 6-3 in the Round-of-32 in the National Bank Open on Wednesday.

In fact, Alcaraz had earlier admitted that he struggles to handle pressure in big matches of the Grand Slam events as he is yet to make it past the quarterfinal stage. The teenage Spaniard was the second seed for Canadian Open and he feels he could not deal with pressure.

“I felt the pressure to be the number two seed in this kind of tournament, number four in the world,” Alcaraz said. “It was the first time that I felt that pressure, and I couldn’t handle it.

Alcaraz added he needs to handle such pressure situations and he is going to give his best in training sessions.

“All I can say from this match is I have to train, I have to be ready to have this pressure, to have these kinds of moments, and to learn how to handle it.

In fact, along with Carlos Alcaraz, Daniil Medvedev and Stefanos Tsitsipas were also knocked out of the tournament.

Alcaraz added that he will keep fighting to come up with a better performance in the upcoming matches.

“I could say I couldn’t show my best performance here,” he explained. “But as I said, first rounds, you have to fight against your opponent and of course against yourself.

“Obviously it was tough to handle those moments knowing that I’m not playing my 100 percent. It was a fight with myself.”

Meanwhile, Carlos Alcaraz will need to hold his nerves to win big tournaments as he is making the right progress. The youngster had recently lost to Lorenzo Musetti in the final of the German Open in the three-set contest. Subsequently, he was beaten by Jannik Sinner in the final of the Croatia Open.