Carlos Alcaraz on Daniil Medvedev failure: ‘I’ve never seen Daniil play like this’ ATP Tour

match response

Alcaraz on Medvedev’s defeat: “I’ve never seen Daniel play like this”

World No. 1 Alcaraz reflects on first loss of 2026

March 15, 2026

Carlos Alcaraz suffered his first loss of the season in the BNP Paribas Open semifinals on Saturday. While the Spaniard will be looking to extend his 16-0 start into 2026, he was also quick to acknowledge the performance of his opponent Daniil Medvedev.

“I have to give credit to Daniel. I thought he had a great game,” Alcaraz said. “I have to say, from the beginning of the game to the end, he played unreal. To be honest, I’ve never seen Daniel play like this.

“He fully deserved this win today. He fully deserved to advance here and play in the final. All I can say is congratulations to him.”

Alcaraz, this year’s Australian Open and Doha champion, explained that he doesn’t feel any external pressure and his winning streak continues to grow.

“I’m not thinking about ‘I need to win’ or ‘I have to win.’ It’s just chasing my goals, chasing the goals that I set before every game,” Alcaraz said. “That’s my mentality so I don’t get tired of people thinking I have to win every game.”

The 22-year-old’s straight-sets loss was less reflective of his own performance and more representative of former PIF ATP No. 1 Medvedev’s form. The 30-year-old has won 18 consecutive sets since entering the Dubai title match.

“He’s been playing aggressive, which I guess surprised me a little bit. I knew from the start that he was going to play aggressive, but the way he came out surprised me because he didn’t miss any, or not miss as much as I expected,” Alcaraz said with a laugh. “He played aggressive and he didn’t even miss. So it was tricky.”

On a hot day in the California desert, Medvedev’s baseline performance seemed to tire Alcaraz, forcing the Spaniard to put all his energy into every point to try and find an advantage. Alcaraz broke serve early in the second set to seize the momentum and then won two set points but was unable to force a decider.

“In the second set, I started feeling better. I realized what I had to do. I realized I had to suffer and I accepted it,” Alcaraz said. “I would say that’s why the second set was better.”

The world’s No. 1 player leaves Indian Wells with a 16-1 record this season, according to the Infosys ATP Win-Loss Index. So while he’s hoping to add another trophy to his list at the season’s first ATP Masters 1000 event, Alcaraz still has plenty to feel good about.

“I’m just a little disappointed right now. But at the same time, I have to see the upside of this loss,” Alcaraz said. “It’s about the idea of ​​people and players, if they want to beat me, they need to play at a level like this. So at some point, it’s going to be [go in] In some ways I enjoyed it.

“But obviously I’ve been playing great tennis. I just showed the players and people that if they want to beat me, they have to play well [their] One and a half hours at best level, two hours per game. “