"I felt the pressure and I couldn't handle it" - Alcaraz on loss to Paul

Carlos Alcaraz looked in control against Tommy Paul midway through the 2nd set with a break up and a set in hand but he collapsed to lose the match in three sets.

It was a strange thing for Alcaraz but it was not something that hasn't happened before. He was favoured against Musetti in Hamburg and he lost, he was favoured against Sinner in Umag and lost and now he's lost another match where he was favoured. Contrary to that match, Alcaraz actually led in this one but collapsed later on:

"I felt the pressure to be the No. 2 seed in this kind of tournament, No. 4 in the world. It was the first time that I felt that pressure, and I couldn't handle it. 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. That's all I can say right now."

Alcaraz had moments of brilliance but it was far from his best or even close to his standard tennis. He was fighting himself mostly:

"I could say I couldn't show my best performance here. 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 per cent, let's say... It was a fight with myself."