Alcaraz explains the reason for his level today: "I felt frustrated"

Carlos Alcaraz had to work much harder than expected to secure his first match at the ATP Tokyo 2026. The player from Murcia managed to progress to the next round, although he was far from displaying his most brilliant version. After the match, he explained that many of his difficulties were related to the lack of time to acclimatize to conditions that were completely different from those he had been experiencing in recent days after arriving from London for the Laver Cup.

Alcaraz landed in Japan after competing in the Laver Cup, where he played on indoor courts, and arrived in Tokyo with very little adaptation time. In addition, the rain in recent days forced the Spaniard and other players to train indoors. This Thursday, however, the match was played outdoors, with quite a bit of heat and high humidity. A radical change of scenery that affected not only the Murcia player but also several tennis players coming from the previous indoor tournament.

Alcaraz struggled to find his best level

“I simply tried to give my best. Today I did not find my best level, and I didn't feel the ball the way I would have liked. I think something similar happened to other players who were at the Laver Cup and then came here because we arrived quite late.”

“During the days we spent in Tokyo, it rained, and we had to train on indoor courts. Going out today and encountering so much humidity, heat, and completely different conditions made it really challenging to play and manage everything that happened during the match.”

“I am very satisfied with having kept fighting and with having been able to play at a level good enough to achieve victory. Now I will have a few more days to better adapt to the conditions here.”

Affected by the lack of acclimatization

“I couldn't train on outdoor courts until this morning's warm-up, and it had been a long time since I played a match outdoors. I had trained indoors, but the sensations are completely different.”

“The ball feels heavier and bigger in these conditions, and also, I believe the court is quite slower than an indoor court. All of that made it difficult to adapt and find the adjustments I needed in my game.”

Carlos Alcaraz: «No pude entrenar al aire libre hasta el calentamiento de esta mañana y llevaba mucho tiempo sin jugar ningún partido en pistas exteriores. Había entrenado en pista cubierta, pero la sensación era completamente diferente. La pelota se hace más grande y creo que la… pic.twitter.com/yx0Bv0LMaJ

— Germán R. Abril (@gerebit0) October 1, 2026

Frustrated at not performing well in the second set

“Yes, I was a bit frustrated not being able to develop my tennis and my usual style, trying to be aggressive, because the conditions themselves did not allow me to do it as I wanted.”

“It was a tough match, but I am very happy to have accepted the situation, understood how I had to play, and, of course, for having achieved victory in the end.”

“It was very important to experience these feelings thinking about the next round. Now I know much better what I need to do and how I should approach the upcoming matches.”

The best news for Carlos Alcaraz in his debut at the ATP Tokyo 2026 was, precisely, achieving victory even without feeling comfortable. The Murcia player will now have a bit more time to recover, train, and fully acclimatize to the Japanese conditions.

On Saturday, he will return to the court to face Arnaldi and will do so with a match behind him and much more experience, which should help him feel more comfortable than in this difficult debut. The key in these days, beyond playing well, is to get through it to earn time and better acclimatize to the tournament conditions.

This is an automatic translation. You can read the original news, Alcaraz explica el porqué de su nivel hoy: "Me sentí frustrado"