{"id":2762,"date":"2026-09-09T09:55:53","date_gmt":"2026-09-09T09:55:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/?p=2762"},"modified":"2026-09-09T09:55:53","modified_gmt":"2026-09-09T09:55:53","slug":"carlos-alcaraz-reveals-what-made-the-difference-in-epic-us-open-loss-to-ben-shelton","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/?p=2762","title":{"rendered":"Carlos Alcaraz reveals what made the difference in epic US Open loss to Ben Shelton"},"content":{"rendered":"

Carlos Alcaraz<\/a> spoke candidly after his title defence at the 2026 US Open ended with an epic five-set defeat to Ben Shelton.<\/p>\n

No 2 seed Alcaraz was beaten 6-7(5), 6-1, 6-3, 1-6, 7-6(7) by eighth seed Shelton<\/a> in the US Open<\/a> quarter-finals in Arthur Ashe Stadium.<\/p>\n

The match lasted four hours and 28 minutes, concluding at 3:33am on Wednesday morning in New York \u2014 the latest finish time in US Open history.<\/a><\/p>\n

Alcaraz\u2019s loss ended his 18-match win streak at Grand Slams and his 12-match win streak in matches decided by a fifth set.<\/p>\n

Speaking to reporters after the match, Alcaraz said he was \u201chappy\u201d and \u201cproud.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, as I said before the tournament began, my expectation was to go there, compete, play in these kinds of matches, for me, being healthy,\u201d said the 23-year-old Spaniard.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, it was close. It was close. So, I\u2019m just a little bit disappointed about not getting the win, but I\u2019m just happy. I\u2019m just proud about myself, about how I fought.<\/p>\n

More US Open News<\/h2>\n

US Open strongly criticised after Ben Shelton-Carlos Alcaraz match: \u2018They\u2019ve decided to kill tennis\u2019<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Carlos Alcaraz\u2019s ranking points dropped and prize money earned after US Open loss to Ben Shelton<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

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\u201cAfter the third set, physically I was really tired, but I found a way to push myself up and physically give extra.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the fifth set, I just started to feel better and better. But I was playing against someone that is a beast. Shelton is an unbelievable player and powerful. He just managed how to play really well in every situation, so credit to him.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I leave the court happy. I leave the court with a smile, healthy, and this is what I needed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked what made the difference in the fifth set tiebreak, Alcaraz highlighted Shelton\u2019s serve.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, the serve is a really good weapon in these kind of situations. But sometimes you win, sometimes you lose,\u201d said the seven-time Grand Slam champion.<\/p>\n

\u201cI remember the last [fifth set] tiebreak that I played was in Paris [against Jannik Sinner last year]; it was an unbelievable game that I played during that moment.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis time, when you\u2019re trying to fight, and trying to overcome all the problems that you might have, physically tired a lot.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd obviously, when he\u2019s serving, he puts a lot of pressure on you. You\u2019re thinking about trying to put the return in, and it\u2019s an unknown if you\u2019re gonna play the point, or he\u2019s gonna get a free point with the serve.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, I think in these moments, he takes a lot of advantage with the serve. Not any excuse, but I would say this is an important weapon in these moments.\u201d<\/p>\n

READ NEXT: Ben Shelton gives Carlos Alcaraz ultimate praise after US Open \u2018war\u2019 as he makes \u2018p***ed\u2019 comment<\/a>
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

The post Carlos Alcaraz reveals what made the difference in epic US Open loss to Ben Shelton<\/a> appeared first on Tennis365<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Carlos Alcaraz spoke candidly after his title defence at the 2026 US Open ended with an epic five-set defeat to Ben Shelton. No 2 seed Alcaraz was beaten 6-7(5), 6-1, 6-3, 1-6, 7-6(7) by eighth seed Shelton in the US Open quarter-finals in Arthur Ashe Stadium. The match lasted four hours and 28 minutes, concluding […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2762","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2762","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2762"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2762\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2762"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2762"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2762"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}