Alcaraz and the threats on social media: "There are very beastly messages and some even make you scared"

Andrés Tomás Rico | 17 Jun 2025 | 20.21

Alcaraz and the threats on social media: "There are very beastly messages and some even make you scared." Photo: Getty Images

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Carlos Alcaraz continues to hunger for titles and victories. Nine days after capturing his second Roland Garros, his fifth Grand Slam, after winning one of the best finals in recent memory against Jannik Sinner, the Spaniard got back to work. This time he only needed three days of disconnect in Ibiza, although, according to him, he only went out partying for one day. With the option to skip the Queen’s tournament and arrive in better shape at Wimbledon, but with less grass practice, the Murcian chose the latter. And so far, it has paid off because in his debut at the London tournament, he started with a demanding and hard-fought victory against Adam Walton (6-4, 7-6(4)).

The transition from clay to grass is considered by many players as the most challenging of the year. Not only due to the pronounced difference in gameplay (shorter and faster points, serve importance...), but also because of the little time the grass season lasts and how brief the window is to adapt to it (less than two weeks ago they were playing on clay). Alcaraz experienced this adaptation against Walton and discussed it in the post-match press conference, speaking about the high level of the Australian player. He also took the opportunity to express his distress over the amount of threats and hateful messages that tennis players receive on social media.

From facing Davidovich to debuting with Walton

"I had to erase everything my coach told me at the beginning (smiling). Yes, I'm not going to say it's very difficult to adjust everything because, I mean, as players, we have to adapt to conditions fairly quickly throughout. So I changed my plan a bit, but what's difficult is playing against someone I didn't know much about. I didn't know how he played, what his best shot was. So I didn't know how to approach the match. What I try is not to think about him. I only think about myself, my game, trying to play my best. And that's it. I think I did quite well, but the adjustment I made wasn't too much."

Grass conditions at Queen's after the WTA tournament

"It's quite good, obviously last year and the year before, it was quite different because, you know, the girls didn't play the first week. So on grass, the less you touch the grass, the better. But honestly, I found the court quite good. Quite fast, obviously. Honestly, the longer I spend on the court, the more comfortable I'll feel, but the court was quite good, as always."

Surprised by Walton's level

"I told him he played very well. It was a great level. Honestly, it was a surprise; I surprised myself with the level he played today. It was very tough. Sometimes I didn't know if I was not playing well or if he was playing great. My coach told me that Adam also surprised him. The ranking doesn't show his level, for sure. I don't know his game on other surfaces, but I thought he had a pretty good level."

About the threats and hateful messages received by tennis players

"I also receive them. There are some very tough messages. I'm not going to exactly mention a message sent to me here, but they can be very 'heavy,' and some even make you afraid. Obviously, when you lose, you receive many messages. Some are quite good; others are pretty bad. I prefer not to dwell on that. I learned that when I lose, I shouldn't look at social media as much because sometimes when I did, when I lost a first-round match or a match I shouldn't have lost, seeing the messages affected me a lot. It's sometimes hard to deal with."

This news is an automatic translation. You can read the original news, Alcaraz y las amenazas en las redes sociales: "Hay mensajes muy bestias y alguno te da incluso miedo"