Laura Robson says Carlos Alcaraz did something ‘we never usually see’ during defeat to Ben Shelton

Carlos Alcaraz’s time at the US Open came to a heartbreaking end as he was beaten in a deciding 10-point tie-breaker against Ben Shelton.

The Spaniard battled it out until 4:33am in New York, but came up just short against the American to end his journey in his first tournament back from injury.

Alcaraz impressed at the US Open despite question marks around his wrist, but the pace and power of Shelton was just too much for the Spaniard.

Laura Robson believes Alcaraz’s lack of match fitness was party to blame for the Spaniard’s US Open exit, and it resulted in something unusual during the match.

Speaking on Sky Sports Tennis about Shelton and Alcaraz’s battle, Robson was impressed by the way the Spaniard dealt with the defeat.

“He had such a great perspective, talking to the media after the loss. You can tell from the reaction after the match, and also the walk back to the locker room, he just had the biggest smile on his face because he’s missed this kind of competition so much,” said Robson.

However, she believes his defeat came down to physicality ultimately, largely down to the fact he missed four and a half months of action.

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“I think this was a real test physically. You could tell that he was rusty in certain aspects of the match and going toe-to-toe for four and a half hours, it looked like he was tired which we never usually see from him.

“So I’m sure that gives him extra motivation to get back into the gym, get back onto the practice court. But if that’s your first tournament back after four months, you’re in a Grand Slam quarter final, playing this kind of match-up, you’ll take it.”

Alcaraz has already confirmed his next two tournaments and they are both set to come this month.

He will play the Laver Cup in London between 25th and 27th September and he will follow it up with an appearance at the Japan Open, which begins five days later.

Alcaraz is the defending champion at the Japan Open, so he will be under yet more ranking pressure at the ATP 500 tournament.

Having won the US Open last year, Alcaraz has lost 1600 ranking points for dropping out of the Grand Slam at the quarter final stage.

Should Shelton win the US Open this year, where he is the second favourite to do so currently, the Spaniard will drop down to world No 4 in the ranking. That has not happened since the 2021 season.