Watch: Alcaraz destroys racket after shock defeat by Monfils, 37

Carlos Alcaraz smashed his racket in frustration as he suffered a shock defeat in his first match since the Olympics. The four-times grand-slam champion from Spain received a warning from the umpire for hitting his racket on the court surface three times in quick succession during the deciding set of a 4-6, 7-6 (7-5), 6-4 loss to the 37-year-old French veteran Gaël Monfils.
Competing in his opening match at the Cincinnati Open, Alcaraz showed signs of mental fatigue after a busy summer in which he won the French Open and Wimbledon. The 21-year-old now has the opportunity to rest and focus purely on practice before he begins his US Open campaign.
It was uncharacteristic of Alcaraz to lose his temper so spectacularly on the court. The emotions of losing to Novak Djokovic in the Olympic final a fortnight ago are perhaps still raw, and there will no doubt also be some annoyance that he failed to complete the job against Monfils on Thursday evening when he was a set up and close to the finish line in the second-set tiebreak. A sudden downpour of rain forced the match to be abandoned for the night before play resumed at about 1.45pm local time the next day.
Alcaraz struggled to find any rhythm from the back of the court upon his return and Monfils took full advantage by seizing his opportunity in the third set for one of the most notable wins of his long career. He is the third-oldest player to beat an opponent ranked in the world’s top three on the ATP Tour, behind a 39-year-old Jimmy Connors and a 38-year-old Roger Federer.
There was also disappointment for Cameron Norrie, who has withdrawn from the US Open after struggling to recover from the forearm injury that also forced him out of the Paris Olympics.
The British No 2 has not played a match since his second-round defeat by Rafael Nadal at the Swedish Open on July 18. During the build-up to the Olympic tennis event, he felt pain in his forearm during a practice session at Roland Garros and subsequently pulled out hours before he was due to play in the first round of the singles.
Norrie, who turns 28 next Friday, did not appear at any of the North American hard-court events this month as he attempted to make a recovery in time for the start of the US Open on August 26. However, with ten days to go he came to the realisation that his forearm would not allow him to compete at a reasonable standard in the final grand-slam event of the season.
“I have been working hard to get my body to full health,” Norrie wrote on social media. “Unfortunately my forearm injury is not recovering as soon as I would have hoped, therefore I will not be able to compete in this year’s US Open. I’ll take some rest and recharge.”
Norrie, ranked No 47 in the world, has struggled for consistency on the tour this season and is now set to drop out of the world’s top 50 following the US Open for the first time since April 2021. He lost his status as the British No 1 to Jack Draper in June.
Norrie’s withdrawal means that Draper and Dan Evans are the only two guaranteed British representatives in the men’s singles draw at Flushing Meadows. Billy Harris, Jacob Fearnley, Paul Jubb, Liam Broady and Oliver Crawford are all bidding to gain a place in the main draw by coming through three matches in qualifying.