Alcaraz ‘struggled mentally’ and had to calm himself down in Barcelona Open tie

Carlos Alcaraz revealed that he had ‘struggled mentally’ during his Barcelona Open clash with Alex de Minaur. The Spaniard ultimately prevailed on Friday as he looks to reclaim his crown in his homeland, having won the title in 2022 and 2023.

Alcaraz impressed as he booked his spot in the final four of the competition, securing a 7-5 6-3 victory over De Minaur to set up a clash with Arthur Fils – who progressed into the semi-finals after Stefanos Tsitsipas retired from their quarter-final match after just a matter of minutes.

Despite Alcaraz’s wealth of experience, the four-time Grand Slam winner admitted that he struggled to mentally deal with his serving early in the match. He explained: “I started quite badly with the serve, I was struggling a little bit mentally with [it].

“It was just the first few games with my serve, then I think I improved a lot. I calmed myself down and started to think positively again. Alex started strong, playing aggressively, and the first set was really tight.”

The 21-year-old will be pleased to have finally put another top-10 opponent to the sword this year, having only secured one win over a direct rival in 2025 prior to beating De Minaur.

Alcaraz will be hoping to continue his good form when he takes on Fils today (Saturday). Following his walkover against Tsitsipas, Fils said: “I was ready to battle for a few hours because he’s a champion. Every time we play we have tough matches. My wish is he’s going to be ready for the next weeks and for the French Open. I wish him the best. I don’t know what he had but I wish him the best.

“I have another great match against Carlitos. We had a great fight in Monte Carlo. Let’s hope we have a nice fight tomorrow as well. Of course. The last match was very positive. Of course, I lost it, but still very positive.

“Tomorrow is going to be different. We are in Spain. He’s playing great here. I think he won twice already. So yeah, it’s going to be a nice one. I watched a little bit of the match against Alex… Let’s see how it goes tomorrow.”