Alcaraz continues to struggle with end-of-season matches

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For the second consecutive year, Carlos Alcaraz has struggled in the second half of the year. Since Wimbledon, the Murcian has found it challenging to maintain the momentum from the first part of the season. It's precisely in this period where the tournaments that are hardest for him are concentrated, and when exhaustion sets in, Carlitos struggles to find his rhythm. He will head into vacation (pending the Davis Cup) knowing that he has room for improvement in this aspect for 2025.

Alcaraz's winning percentage, for the second year in a row, exceeds 80% overall, but the last stretch of the season drags down his impressive average. In 2023, Carlitos had an 18-8 record, with a 69.2% win rate. In 2024, it's 11-6, which equates to 64.7% (these stats do not include Davis Cup or the Olympics matches). It's worth noting the 11 victories this year, with five of them coming from Beijing. Disregarding that tournament, there are only six wins across five events (Cincinnati, US Open, Shanghai, Paris, and Turin).

In 2024, the Olympic Games final was his equivalent of Cincinnati this year. Losing the Cincinnati final to Djokovic last year was a massive mental blow from which it took him a while to recover and find motivation in 2023 during the last months of the year. This past summer, the defeat to the Serbian in Paris, combined with an intense summer with victories in Roland Garros and Wimbledon, left him mentally drained, leading to a visit to the US with just one victory in two tournaments.

Nevertheless, an exceptional year

We cannot overlook that, even though he won fewer titles this year than in 2023 (4 compared to 6 the previous year), two of them were Grand Slams. Surely, 99% of the players on the circuit would gladly sign up for winning two majors per year, even if it means finishing as the world number 3 at the end of the season. The team's feeling is that the year has been tremendously positive thanks to the peak performances found between May, June, and July, although the downturns were pronounced, with more unexpected defeats than they would have liked.

Probably, if Alcaraz were presented with a paper stating he'd win two more Slams in 2025, he'd sign without hesitation. That's why the year's assessment can only be tremendously good. 

And as we always say, the positive aspect for him is that he is only 21 years old and, obviously, has a lot of room for improvement in many areas. One of them is controlling the downturns so that they occur much less than in 2024 and finishing the final stretch of the year in 2025 with better sensations. "My goal for next year is to arrive at this time of the year feeling fresher. To find enjoyment in every place, every tournament, every match. It's not easy for me to travel a lot at this time of year. I miss my home. I want to spend time with my loved ones, at home. Next year, I'll try to be better at that," Carlos commented in the press today after his loss. In twelve months, we'll see if he has managed to achieve it.

This news is an automatic translation. You can read the original news, A Alcaraz se le sigue atragantando los finales de temporada