Carlos Alcaraz lost his nerve during the first set of his match against the Belgian Zizou Bergs in the third round of the Shanghai Masters 1000. The Spaniard, who had just suffered a break of serve, vented his frustration at the playing conditions and, in particular, the irregular behavior of the balls, before losing the set 5-7 in 58 minutes.
The Murcian, 23 years old and number three in the world, encountered a 27-year-old rival ranked 39th in the ATP ranking who played without complexes, with an aggressive proposal and willing to put the recent champion of the Tokyo tournament in trouble.
Alcaraz’s frustration was especially evident when he addressed himself and his team, with his head coach, Samuel López, the recipient of his complaints. «I don’t understand it, that one ball bounces off me and the other throws me off. I can’t, man! “I can’t play like this!” exclaimed the Spaniard, annoyed by the differences in the bounce of the balls.
The tennis player insisted on his protest with a gesture that illustrated the irregular trajectory he perceived on the court. «One ball goes like this and the other bounces me high. I don’t understand it, I don’t understand it! “I can’t play tennis like that, by intuition,” he said during his intense monologue.
The complaints were not new in Shanghai. Alejandro Davidovich had also shown his discomfort with the behavior of the balls during his match the previous day, on a fast surface that, according to the players’ feelings, is conditioned by the wear of the material.
After losing the first set, Samuel López tried to reassure his pupil and encourage him to recover his best version. «Just do your tennis, get involved and with joy. And if you have to fail, let it fail, but fail well. Hit the ball, brave man, come on, let’s go, man. Come on, turn this around,” the Alicante coach advised him.
However, Alcaraz’s doubts persisted at the beginning of the second set. “I definitely have a vision problem or something,” he commented, still bewildered by the playing conditions.
Shanghai is not a tournament that has offered too much joy to the Spaniard in his previous participations. In 2023 he lost in the round of 16 against Grigor Dimitrov, in 2024 he lost in the quarterfinals against Tomas Machac and in 2025 he withdrew.
With a fast court, balls that caused discomfort and a Bergs determined to take advantage of every opportunity, Alcaraz faced the rest of the match with the challenge of regaining concentration and finding solutions to change the course of the match.
Alcaraz’s frustration ended up being transferred to the scoreboard. The Murcian could not come back against a solid Bergs, who closed the match in the second set tiebreaker to seal a 7-5 and 7-6 (7-4) victory, after two hours and three minutes of play.
The Spaniard thus says goodbye to the Shanghai Masters 1000 in the third round, without finding answers to the Belgian’s aggressiveness and the conditions of a track that once again generated his complaints. The defeat represents a new setback for Alcaraz in a tournament in which its best result so far had been reaching the quarterfinals in 2024.
