Carlos Alcaraz, bitter outburst after missing final with Jannik Sinner

“The only thing that tires me sometimes is the feeling of always having a target on my back”. This was confessed by a disappointed Carlos Alcaraz after the semifinal defeat to BNP Paribas Open against Daniil Medvedev: “I must, however, take positives from this defeat: I showed my opponents that in order to beat me, they have to express their best tennis. But when they can really play at that level, it’s not such a pleasant feeling”.

Andrea Gussoni

“I just have to accept it and move on, knowing that from now on everyone will try to play like this against me. It’s up to me to be ready. In the end I also realized something else: I have to play for myself, for my team and for the people around me. I don’t feel like I have to win. Rather, it is a matter of chasing my goals and trying to achieve what I have set before each tournament”.

Paolo Bertolucci is always very active on social media and on Sunday he wanted to provoke fans with a tweet. After Daniil Medvedev’s victory over Carlos Alcaraz in the Indian Wells semifinal, the 1976 Davis Cup winner provocatively asked, “Where are the phenoms who took Alcaraz’s result for granted?” Among the comments was one in particular that received a lot of ‘likes,’ and that was Mgthre’s: “I don’t play tennis….they’ve always told me it’s a sport of the head…you know the physique may be holding you up for life….but the head is not! That’s another matter! The little guy (I think though Sinner too) will not hold up until Djokovic and Federer’s 40s…immature.”

Paolo Bertolucci’s response was virtually immediate: “You don’t know a sport but read the future? Good,” wrote the blue legend, triggering other fans and starting a great debate.

In late January, Bertolucci had intervened after Jannik Sinner’s loss to Novak Djokovic in the Australian Open semifinals: “Notice to mariners: Jannik Sinner made something exceptional obvious. In sports as in life there are victories but also defeats.”