Eye of the Coach #103 : "Alcaraz can be the big guy before Roland-Garros"

Tennis Majors

Carlos Alcaraz was without a title since Wimbledon 2024 - that was until the 2025 Monte-Carlo Masters, where he defeated Lorenzo Musetti 3-6, 6-1, 6-0 in the final.   Patrick Mouratoglou believes that the Spaniard's ability to be victorious when not at his best is one of Alcaraz's best qualities, and is one which puts him at the top of the men's game.   "The victory of Carlos Alcaraz is very interesting for many reasons," states the renowned coach. "He was struggling big time, missing so much, but he dug incredibly deep to win that one. It's one of his best qualities that no one names."   Key Moments   0:00 - Assessment of Carlos Alcaraz at Monte Carlo   0:08 - Why the victory is very interesting   0:14 - Alcaraz's ability to win when not at his best   0:38 - The difficulties of staying at the top of the game   1:04 - Alcaraz's 'pressure' without Jannik Sinner   1:27 - Looking ahead, becoming the 'big one' for Roland Garros

Transcript

00:00He's won. Monte Carlo. Did he play well?

00:02Not even close to his level.

00:07The victory of Carlos is very interesting for many reasons.

00:10He was struggling big time, missing so much.

00:13He dug incredibly deep to win that one.

00:15That's one of his best qualities that nobody named.

00:18It's not the first time.

00:19I've seen him win a lot of matches in the past.

00:21I mean, especially finals.

00:22When he was coming up, he had big finals to play.

00:25Didn't play well. He won.

00:26And if you remember well, even Rangaros last year,

00:29he didn't play his best by far.

00:31And he beat Sinner.

00:31And then he beat Zverev in the final, not playing his best.

00:34So that's a huge quality.

00:36Huge quality.

00:37That's the quality of the biggest champions.

00:38It shows how much it's difficult to stay at the top.

00:41It's extremely difficult to reach the top.

00:44But it's even more difficult and it's a new challenge to stay at the top

00:47because suddenly the pressure is so heavy.

00:50In the US tournaments, I said,

00:52now that Sinner is out for three months,

00:53there is a big opening spot and become the guy.

00:56And then when Sinner will come back,

00:58it's going to be difficult for him.

00:59And what we've seen during the US season

01:01is that none of the top three was able to take the spot.

01:04Carlo said that people told him,

01:06oh, it's a great opportunity for you to come back to number one

01:08and this pressure killed me.

01:09That's what he said.

01:10I'm not surprised.

01:11Just the difference between reaching the top

01:12and staying at the top with expectations.

01:14Now I'm supposed to be the one taking that spot.

01:16Ah, pressure.

01:18Difficult to understand for random people.

01:20But when you work with professional athletes and top ones,

01:23the pressure is unbelievable.

01:25And I think this victory is very important to him.

01:27Now he's going to Barcelona.

01:29He's going to use last week big time

01:31and he can be the big guy before Rangaros.

01:34In a way, it's going to be easier for him to fight the pressure

01:36because he's won so much.

01:37He's going to be the big guy before Rangaros.

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