The question had been hanging around since the US Open: if the calendar is too heavy, why go and play the Laver Cup? Patrick Mouratoglou answered it, speaking to Tennis Majors. “It’s not physical, it’s mental,” he said. According to him, Carlos Alcaraz “saturates when he plays too much tennis,” loses the pleasure, the creativity, and his level drops a lot.
The team week, with no ATP points, would then be a remedy rather than a contradiction. “Carlos is not chasing points. He doesn’t need more tournaments that give points. He needs to love tennis when the big ones come,” the coach added. Alcaraz himself had explained on Thursday that players aren’t used to team events during the year, and that “these kind of weeks help me a lot to bring my joy back on the court.”
Mouratoglou thinks the case is probably not isolated: other players face the same kind of competitions year after year, and this saturation can weigh on results, even bring on injuries.
On court, the joy came back in stages. Alcaraz started his tournament by saving two match points against Taylor Fritz, then finished it without having to play his scheduled Sunday singles match. Team Europe won 13-5 against Team World, at the O2 Arena.
At the newsroom, one man believes he’s owed royalties.
Well, it’s very simple. I theorised mental saturation back in January. Me, in Kitzbühel, in ’92, after three weeks on clay, I didn’t know why I was still holding a racket. What did I do? A mixed doubles at the Léopold, a Brussels club, nothing at stake. Instant cure. Ninety percent of my best matches come after a week that counted for nothing, and I’m being kind. Mouratoglou’s right, mind you, but he’s four years late saying it. Careful, I’m not saying it’s copied. I’m clarifying: it’s inspiration.
Jean-Pol is still waiting for someone to call him about it on television. He’s left his number with the switchboard, twice.
It’s true, we checked: Tennis Majors.
