Carlos Alcaraz explains the ‘difficult’ conditions that saw him struggle in Cincinnati and the US Open

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Carlos Alcaraz has explained what contributed to his poor results over the North American hard court swing.

The Spaniard entered the United States in imperious form after winning the French Open, Wimbledon and the Olympic silver medal.

He had ambitions of producing a strong campaign in Cincinnati before aiming to win a second US Open title.

But the 21-year-old left America following quite possibly his two worst results of the season and is left with plenty of questions to answer heading into the final portion of the year.

What did Carlos Alcaraz find challenging about Cincinnati and the US Open?

Carlos Alcaraz was flying high until Novak Djokovic defeated him to win the Olympic gold medal at the Paris Games.

The Serbian somewhat avenged his defeat to his young rival in the Wimbledon final and in the process became Olympic champion for the first time.

Alcaraz has not been the same player since and following the US Open he even admitted that mentally, he had taken a step back.

But ahead of representing Spain in the Davis Cup, the World number three thinks the tour’s hectic schedule is taking its toll on him.

“[The North-American swing] was a tour that I hoped would be better. I haven’t managed to play at the level I would have liked,” Alcaraz said.

“But in the end it’s very difficult to perform at the level you want every day and you have to be prepared to accept things as they come.

“I think I lacked preparation after a very intense summer, with few days of rest, disconnection and training for the American tour and to get there in the best possible way. It’s an experience from which to learn for the future.”

What were Carlos Alcaraz’s results in Cincinnati and the US Open?

Alcaraz entered the Cincinnati Open as the favorite following his impressive European summer, but his stay in Ohio was short lived.

Alcaraz suffered defeat to Gael Monfils in an opening round match that lasted over two days due to bad weather.

This meant that Alcaraz entered the US Open with successive defeats, and only managed one win in New York before the unseeded Botic van de Zandschulp caused the upset of the season at Flushing Meadows.

The Dutchman defeated Alcaraz in straight sets to send him crashing out of the tournament and now the four-time Grand Slam champion aims to bounce back when he represents his country in the Davis Cup this week.