Boris Becker believes Carlos Alcaraz must not play in every clay court tournament before the French Open to avoid risking injury.
The 18-year-old has flown up the ATP rankings in 2022 after boasting title wins at the Rio Open in February and the Miami Open – his maiden Masters title – in March.
But Alcaraz’s preparations for the French Open in May have been dealt a blow after he fell to a three-set defeat to Sebastian Korda in the second round of the Monte Carlo Masters on Wednesday.
Becker believes Alcaraz “must not believe his own hype” and that he should not compete at Barcelona next week, the Madrid Masters and the Rome Open all before taking part in the second Grand Slam of the year and thinks he should take a break.
“He must not believe his own hype now,” the six-time Grand Slam winner told Eurosport.
“He’s not the best yet. He is the high-flyer of the scene. The way he played this year, there was only one player who was better and he is also from Spain. But the clay court season is exhausting, the matches are longer.
“I hope he doesn’t play Monte Carlo, Barcelona, Madrid and also Rome, because then it’s too much for my taste.
“He has to take a break because he’s only human and he’s also tired sometimes. When you continue to play tired, the first injuries occur.
“It is very important to find the fine line between what is good in tournaments and matches and what is too much?”
Alcaraz is already being tipped as the next Rafael Nadal despite only playing his second year on the ATP tour.
The Spaniard insists his defeat to Korda had nothing to do with expectations placed on him and wants to play more matches right now to get used to competing on clay.
“I’m a bit disappointed with myself,” he said. “I had a lot of chances to be up in the match and close to winning, but these losses sometimes [are] good to live. You have to play matches.
“I didn’t think about the expectations that the people have [for] me. I just focussed on me and what I have to do. But as I said, you have to play more matches on clay courts.”
“I’m ready to [go] back [to] training and focus on the next tournaments,” Alcaraz added.
“It [was] a tough match, but I think mentally I’m ready to play these kind of matches, long matches, and tough matches. I mean, mentally and physically, I’m ready.”
Alcaraz said that the loss was more to do with transitioning from the hard courts in America to clay than the pressure to keep winning matches.
He said: “It’s never easy to get used to playing on clay courts.
“The first match is always tough, even when you are playing against Sebastian, a great player.
“Today was difficult conditions, the wind and everything, now is time to be focussed on the next tournament and keep playing on clay.
“It’s totally different to play on clay than on hard court. Points are longer, the slice [is used] much [more] than on hard court. You have to adapt your game to clay courts. It’s totally different. More top spin, [the] points [are] longer.”
