Carlos Alcaraz has lost that spark of enthusiasm for tennis

Alcaraz started playing tennis at the age of four at the Real Sociedad Club de Campo de Murcia (Royal Murcia Country Club), where his father was the tennis academy director, and his grandfather one of the club's founders. - Wikipedia.

He is currently 20-years-of-age. He has been playing tennis for 16 years. I sense that he has lost that spark of enthusiasm for the sport with a resultant slight falling off of desire which in turn leads to a slightly lower level of energy on the court. 

I can see it in his eyes and in his face. These are subtle signals but they are there I'd say. It is quite noticeable in fact.

Carlos Alcaraz. Image believed to be in the public domain.

This is leading to losing matches as no matter how good a tennis player you are nowadays there are too many excellent young players ready to knock you off your perch in the top 5.

It just has to be 100% commitment all the time on the court with the best possible preparation and no injuries.

I don't think that Alcaraz will win big again meaning he won't win a grand slam event again. He has been falling back relative to Sinner for the past several months. At one stage they were neck and neck with Alcaraz slightly ahead.

Alcaraz was expected to dominate tennis and win 10 majors. Not now and it does not look good.

His recent loss to Rublev and the Madrid Open showed us his slight lack of enthusiasm for the sport. At the end he was almost giving up which would have been unheard of a year ago when he was buzzing with on-court energy and confidence.

Borg retired at 26 because he lost interest in tennis. He did not want to play anymore. There are precedents for top pro tennis players retiring early.

There is no glamour in top pro tennis. People think there is but it is not true. It is hard and to compete all the time is tough for some people. 

Top level competition in any sport can shred the nerves eventually. You can burn out and want to stop.

Let's see if I am right. I think Alcaraz will continue to struggle compared to how he was performing a year or two ago.

Losing in the quarter finals or something like that will not do for Alcaraz. He needs to win to meet expectations both for himself and his team and also for the public and tennis fans.

P.S. please forgive the occasional typo. These articles are written at breakneck speed using Dragon Dictate. I have to prepare them in around 20 mins.