Wimbledon champion Carlos Alcaraz has repeatedly smashed his racquet on the court in a rare show of frustration during his three-set defeat to Gaël Monfils at the Cincinnati Open.
In a round-of-32 match suspended by rain during a second-set tiebreaker, 37-year-old Monfils advanced by defeating second-seeded Alcaraz 4-6, 7-6 (7/5), 6-4.
The Cincinnati tournament is one of the key lead-up events to the US Open, which begins in New York on August 26.
"I felt like it was the worst match that I've ever played [in] my career," Alcaraz said.
"I've been practising really well. I was feeling great. But I couldn't play. I want to forget it and try to move on to New York."
Trailing 3-1 in the tiebreaker when the match was halted by rain, Alcaraz was hoping for a reset when play resumed.
But the world number three was unable to control his emotions.
"It never happened before because I could control those feelings," Alcaraz said.
"Today I couldn't. I was feeling that I was not playing any kind of tennis. It was really frustrating for me.
"At some point, I didn't want to be on the court anymore."
Alcaraz was playing his first match since claiming a silver medal at the Paris Olympics after losing to Novak Djokovic in the final at Roland-Garros.
French veteran Monfils had to later face 15th seed Holger Rune in the round of 16 in Cincinnati, which doubles as one of the Masters 1000 events on the men's ATP Tour.
Monfils lost to Rune after more than two hours on court, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.
Men's top seed and world number one Jannik Sinner progressed to a quarterfinal clash with sixth-seeded Andrey Rublev via walkover.
Sinner's Australian opponent Jordan Thompson was forced to withdraw from their round-of-16 match because of a rib injury
In the women's draw, world number one Iga Swiatek advanced to the quarterfinals with a convincing 6-2, 6-2 win over Marta Kostyuk.
Third-ranked Aryna Sabalenka also advanced with a 7-5, 6-2 victory over Elina Svitolina, but world number four Jasmine Paolini, the French Open and Wimbledon runner-up, lost to Mirra Andreeva 3-6, 6-3, 6-2.
AP/ABC
