Carlos Alcaraz bashed for ‘bizarre’ and ‘careless’ performance in Wimbledon opener, told to get his act together

Carlos Alcaraz survived a massive early scare in his attempt to complete a hat-trick of titles at Wimbledon, as he managed to pull through in the deciding set of a five-set encounter against Italian veteran Fabio Fognini in his first round matchup on Centre Court. Despite winning the Queens Club tournament and on the back of the French Open as well, Alcaraz was uncharacteristically sloppy and loose — a fact that earned him harsh criticism from many corners. Carlos Alcaraz reacts in disbelief after losing a point vs Fabio Fognini.(REUTERS)

The 2023 and 2024 champion was lambasted by former British world number one and Wimbledon semifinalist Tim Henman. Speaking on BBC One, Henman didn’t hold back on his assessment of a poor performance from Alcaraz that saw him drop sets two and four to be drawn into an extended battle.

“I am so surprised at the poor execution and surprised at his reactions. He is missing shots that I cannot believe he is missing. It is certainly a concern for his coaching team. He has been pretty careless. He has set up points and, time and time again, made unforced errors,” said Henman.

Alcaraz uncharacteristically hit more unforced errors than winners, a rarity for a player who is usually able to show off his power without missing too many groundstrokes. 62 unforced errors across five sets came off Alcaraz’s racquet.

"He keeps making life difficult for himself. Alcaraz is just making some easy misses here, it has been a very bizarre performance from him,” said a completely bewildered Henman. “I do not think I have ever seen him so out of sorts. It certainly was not meant to go like this. I have never seen Carlos Alcaraz look this out of sorts on such a big stage.”

Alcaraz faces lowest-ranked player in the draw in round 2

Ultimately, Alcaraz had too much in the tank for Fognini, who at 38 years old is on his farewell tour with retirement planned for later this season, and who had no tour level wins since October 2024 heading into this match. Despite the 6-2 score in the decider, Alcaraz needed the Italian’s momentum to be sapped by a couple of breaks in the final set.

Henman indicated that Alcaraz not being able to consistently land his first serves affected him in this match: he finished with a mark of 58%, a disappointing number give the standards he is expected to uphold.

"Carlos has set the bar for his performances so high because his form has been absolutely sensational. But his first serve percentage has been rather low in this game. It has been around 50 per cent, so Fabio Fognini has been getting plenty of chances to attack the second serve,” he explained.

Fortunately for Alcaraz, he will have time to get used to the Wimbledon grass as he is served up a very manageable second round encounter against British qualifier Oliver Tarvet, who lies outside the top 700 in the ATP rankings.

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