Carlos Alcaraz had to postpone his first semifinal at the Australian Open once again. The Happy Slam is a tournament that has not brought him great luck so far and in which he struggles to play his best tennis.
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The young Spanish champion had arrived at Melbourne Park with important ambitions and was considered the second favourite to win behind Jannik Sinner, who lifted the trophy last year.
The 21-year-old from Murcia qualified for the quarterfinals by losing only one set along his run, but was surprised by Novak Djokovic's performance and had to say goodbye to the tournament prematurely. The 4-time Grand Slam champion admitted that he made some serious mistakes and that he will continue to work to become an even more complete player from all points of view.
The kangaroo tattoo has to wait and Rafael Nadal is destined to remain for at least another year the only Spanish player capable of winning in Melbourne.
Alcaraz is back in Spain
Having equaled the same result as last year's match in which he was defeated by Sascha Zverev in the quarter-finals Carlitos does not add any points and remains in third place in the ATP rankings, 625 points behind the German champion.
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Sascha is already certain to finish the tournament as world No.2 and will face Nole Djokovic in the semifinals on Friday.
Alcaraz - on the other hand - has already packed his bags and left for Spain on Wednesday. His next tournament will be the Rotterdam ATP 500, which will take place from 3 to 9 February. Unlike previous years, the Spanish ace has opted for a different schedule by skipping the tournaments on red clay in South America.
Carlos will not be accompanied by Juan Carlos Ferrero in Rotterdam and Doha, but Samuel Lopez will be in his garage. The latter left Pablo Carreno Busta ending a long collaboration and accepted the offer to join Alcaraz's team.
