Carlos Alcaraz suffered a shock loss to David Goffin in the opening round of the Miami Open over the weekend, continuing a recent trend of early ousters from big tournaments for the World No. 3.
Since the Spaniard won back-to-back majors in 2024, the French Open and Wimbledon, he has suffered early exits at Cincinnati, the U.S. Open, Shanghai, Paris, the ATP Finals and now Miami. In between those losses, he reached the QF at the Australian Open and Doha, the SF at Indian Wells and captured an ATP 500 title in Rotterdam, but the early ousters at the other events are much too hard to ignore.
Alcaraz’s inconsistencies hurt his chances of retaining his titles at Roland Garros and Wimbledon later this year. The 21-year-old knows that it’s the tournaments outside the four majors where a player must clean up chinks in their armor and build ammo for when it counts. His inability to rack up wins hurts his rhythm and makes him vulnerable.
“How am I feeling? Dreadful,” Alcaraz said after his loss in Miami, via ATP Tour. “Dreadful because of this defeat and because this is a tournament I always want to do well at, and losing my first match hurts.”
Following his loss to Novak Djokovic in the quarterfinals in Melbourne, Alcaraz expressed optimism about his form and felt he was primed to have a big 2025. He may have to go back to the drawing board.
“This first part of the season, I said that I felt I was playing good tennis. I was feeling good, but after this defeat, I don’t know what to say,” he rued. “I’m not sure whether, in the coming days, I’ll analyze it or try to forget about it. We’ll see.”
Alcaraz had the opportunity to surpass Alexander Zverev as World No. 2 in Miami and potentially make a run at the World No. 1 crown held by Jannik Sinner at some point this year. With the Italian suspended through May 9, the stage was set for Alcaraz to reclaim the title of the best player in the world.
Sinner’s crown won’t be snatched anytime soon, even as he remains sidelined. Unlike Alcaraz, Sinner has been a model of consistency, reaching at least the final eight of every event since the 2023 ATP Finals. Unless something changes, Sinner is by his lonesome at the top of the food chain.
