We expected, we hoped, a quarter-final between the Spaniard, 11th in the world when he was still 133rd a year ago, and the N.1 Novak Djokovic.

Not one will be there.

After the elimination, the day before, of the Serb in the grip of an unexpected and violent drop in physical regime, it was Alcaraz who put away his rackets, unable to find his bearings against the American Sebastian Korda (42nd), winner 7-6 (7/2), 6-7 (5/7), 6-3.

"It's never easy to find your bearings on clay. The first game is always difficult, especially when you play against an opponent like Sebastian, a great player," commented the 18-year-old, who was exempted from the first round. unlike his opponent.

He had a particularly positive record during the American hard court tour at the start of the season: he was only eliminated in the semi-finals in Indian Wells by Rafael Nadal, before winning his first Masters 1000 a few days later in Miami.

He had therefore become one of the main attractions of a private Monegasque tournament of Nadal, Medvedev, Berrettini or even Thiem.

Expectations

"I didn't think about the expectations hanging over me. I just focused on me and what I had to do," he said.

American Sebastian Korda against Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz, at the Monte-Carlo tournament, April 13, 2022 Valery HACHE AFP

For his very first match in Monte-Carlo, the showdown with Korda, sometimes spectacular, lasted 3h02.

But Alcaraz committed too many unforced errors (36 for 24 winning points) to succeed in imposing his power on an opponent who displayed his wide range of play and in particular a good hand at the net (43 winning points in total).

If he appeared less powerful and sharp than in recent weeks, to the point of getting angry himself on the court and sharing his frustration with his coach Juan-Carlos Ferrero, Alcaraz assured not to be physically dull or exhausted mentally.

"It was a difficult game, but I feel mentally ready to play these types of games, long and tight. Mentally and physically, I'm ready," he said, stressing that he was "ready to return to the training" and to "focus on the next tournaments".

A first name

For his part, Korda, who was also experiencing his baptism of fire in this first Masters 1000 on gravel of the season, showed that he was comfortable on crushed brick.

He had made a name for himself - the son of former world No.2 Petr Korda - by reaching the round of 16 at Roland-Garros in 2020.

"Yes, I'm very comfortable on clay. I grew up on green clay in Florida and used to play on orange clay when I went to Prague," in his father's home country , he explained.

"I move quite well on earth, I feel good there", he insisted, specifying however that his game was more effective on hard.

In the next round, he will face his compatriot Taylor Fritz (13th) who defeated Croatian Marin Cilic (22nd) 6-3, 4-6, 6-4.

Wednesday at the end of the program, the Russian Andrey Rublev (8th), finalist last year, opposed to the Australian Alex de Minaur (25th), as well as the German Alexander Zverev (3rd) against the Argentinian Federico Delbonis (34th ) will make their debut.

© 2022 AFP