“The criticisms of Alcaraz make me laugh, but they are also enough to make me cry,” Spanish former tennis player Alex Corretja remarked earlier this year. Despite a stellar 2024 season that saw him capture two Grand Slam titles and an Olympic silver medal, Carlos Alcaraz has found himself under scrutiny for perceived inconsistencies. While he secured a victory in Rotterdam this season, his performance at the ‘Sunshine Doubles’ fell short of expectations, marking the first time since 2022 that he didn’t win either tournament. Consequently, the Spaniard is once again facing criticism. Now, Serena Williams’ former coach, Rick Macci, has also stepped forward to offer his support for the 21-year-old.

At the age of just 21, Alcaraz has already set several records, including winning four Grand Slam titles, five ATP Masters 1000 titles, and even captured the world number one ranking. Now, following Carlos Alcaraz’s recent surprising defeat to world number 54, David Goffin in the Round of 64 at the Miami Open, some experts have raised a few question marks on his consistency. For example, recently, the former world number 9, Andrea Petkovic, raised an alarm saying, “men’s tennis is in an existential crisis.”

According to her, who thinks the new generation is not quite as solid yet as the ‘Big 3’, “I’m sorry, I have to say it, it’s true. Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz kept a veil in front of our eyes…(Jannik) Sinner is not there, he’s suspended, and Alcaraz lost early, and you can throw a dart blindfolded at a dartboard and see what sticks.”

Further drawing a comparison with the struggle in women’s tennis during a transition, she stated, “Now, in men’s tennis, unless Jannik Sinner comes back at the same level he had or Carlos Alcaraz finds consistency, it is going to be the same.” After seeing criticisms surrounding Alcaraz’s inconsistency, Macci came to Carlitos’ defense.

Putting up a tweet on April 3rd, he raised a serious question mark, saying, “Why anybody would throw darts at 21 year Spanish Magician shows me they see what they want to see and do understand talent development success and failure. A career is a JOURNEY, not a SNAPSHOT that day the hour that second.“

Not only that, he also made a bold claim saying, “The already 4 time MAJOR CHAMPION barring injury will have DOUBLE DIGIT SLAMS and be near the top of the leaderboard every year. @carlosalcaraz.” 

In 2023, the renowned coach tipped Carlos Alcaraz to win a “bucket of Grand Slams” in his career. He even said that he had never seen any player as extraordinary as Alcaraz. “He is a combination of, I tell everybody, [Roger] Federer, [Rafael] Nadal, Djokovic and [Andre] Agassi, all wrapped in one.” What do other tennis experts predict for the current world No. 3?

Former world number one predicts Carlos Alcaraz’s inconsistencies are here to stay

Despite having been inconsistent, Carlos Alcaraz still has a win-loss record of 15-4 this season. Since his ups and downs in the performance graph have been in the limelight recently, Mats Wilander recently shared his thoughts about Alcaraz in an interview with TNT Sports. He said, “Carlos Alcaraz is going to be quite inconsistent in terms of results. We’re so used to not seeing a former world No. 1 and most probably a future world No. 1 to be that inconsistent.”

However, despite that, he feels Alcaraz “Can bounce back at any time. That’s the thing about Carlos Alcaraz. He could bounce back within two weeks because of the way he plays tennis.” He believes that the Spaniard will make a strong comeback from his disappointing exit from Miami and “do well” at the French Open. Even British legend, Tim Henman, was spotted speaking on similar lines, saying, “The upcoming tour is the perfect opportunity for him to bounce back.”

Whereas Boris Becker wants Carlos Alcaraz to skip the year’s only non-mandatory Masters 1000 event in Monte Carlo for the third time in a row. According to the German, “I was afraid that the Spaniard would simply play too many tournaments and that he would also play exhibitions during the winter break. Then the Exhibition in Vegas [Editor’s note: it was actually in Puerto Rico], ahead of Indian Wells. This is all nice for the wallet, but for the annual planning, the tournament planning, it is bad. Unfortunately, I was right.“

Since the beginning of the 2024 season, Carlos Alcaraz has played almost 14 exhibition matches across four different continents. Did the excessive workload play a major role in his recent inconsistency? Share your thoughts in the comment box.