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‘I suffered, but I enjoyed’ – Alcaraz on smiling after defeat at 3:34am

Author Ahmad Ali Estimated read time 5 min read
'I suffered, but I enjoyed' - Alcaraz on smiling after defeat at 3:34am
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⏱ 4 min read  •  876 words

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Facts check out — the match, the quotes, and the Laver Cup are all real. Here’s the article:

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Carlos Alcaraz walked off Arthur Ashe Stadium at 3.34am having just surrendered his US Open title, and he was smiling. Four hours and 28 minutes against Ben Shelton had ended 6-7 (5-7), 6-1, 6-3, 1-6, 7-6 (10-7), the latest finish in the tournament’s history, and the defending champion’s reaction to losing it said more about the five months before New York than about the scoreline itself.

“The quarter-final was great — it was a gift for me,” the 23-year-old said. “I suffered, but I enjoyed and that’s why I smiled when I walked out of the court, because I missed that feeling.”

Five months away, and a gift at 3.34am

Context is everything with that smile. Flushing Meadows was Alcaraz’s first tournament in more than five months after a wrist injury that cost him his French Open title defence and ruled him out of Wimbledon entirely. He did not know he would be fit enough to play the US Open until roughly a week before it began.

What followed was four wins at a genuinely high level and then a fifth-set tie-break against one of the biggest hitters in the sport. Shelton, who took the second and third sets after dropping the opener, was pinned back 6-1 in the fourth before edging the decider 10-7. For a player who had spent the summer watching, a near-miss in a quarter-final was not a wound. It was proof the wrist held.

He is less romantic about the clock. The match was the latest anyone has finished at the US Open, and Alcaraz made clear he wants the scheduling changed.

  • “I think it’s too much,” he said of the 3.34am finish.
  • “The last match people stayed, but if that match was played earlier, the court could have been packed.”
  • “I would like to change the schedule a little, with a maximum finish at 11pm or whatever would be better.”

It is a familiar grievance. Late finishes have become a structural feature of night sessions at the majors, driven by broadcast windows rather than by athlete welfare, and Alcaraz is now the highest-profile player to attach a specific number to the fix.

‘I miss him’ — the rivalry on pause

The more revealing part of Alcaraz’s reflection concerned the man who was not there. Jannik Sinner missed the US Open with a knee injury, meaning the defining rivalry in men’s tennis has been reduced to a single meeting in 2026: the Monte-Carlo Masters final in April, which Sinner won 7-6 (5-7), 6-3 to reclaim the world number one ranking.

“I have text him not too much, but a few times when he has been winning everything, mostly at the beginning of the year,” Alcaraz said. “I miss him, I miss seeing him around, playing against him. He pushes me to be a better player.”

That is not sentiment for its own sake. Between them, Alcaraz and Sinner took eight Grand Slam titles across 2024 and 2025, a duopoly as complete as anything the sport has seen since Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal at their peak. In 2026, injuries to both have cracked it open. Alexander Zverev won the US Open. Shelton reached a maiden major semi-final. The top of the game has been a genuine contest again, which is good for the tour and mildly awkward for the two men who had made it their private property.

Laver Cup redemption, and what comes next

Alcaraz’s answer was to head to London. The ninth Laver Cup ran from 25-27 September at The O2, Yannick Noah’s Team Europe against Andre Agassi’s Team World, and it gave him the competitive volume his season had lacked.

He and Jakub Mensik beat Alexander Bublik and Taylor Fritz 6-4, 6-4 in the opening-day doubles. On Saturday night he returned to face Fritz in singles and saved two match points before winning 6-3, 4-6, 13-11, levelling the contest at 5-5. Zverev sealed it from there, and Europe closed out a 13-5 victory.

The format clearly suits him. “When you have your team-mates, the best in the world, by your side, it’s a weird feeling but it’s beautiful,” he said. “We played like our lives depend on it.”

The wider picture is straightforward. Alcaraz arrives at the indoor swing and the season-ending stretch with a functioning wrist, four hard-court wins and a Laver Cup week in his legs, having lost the ranking lead to a rival he has barely faced. Sinner’s return will settle the more interesting question. Until then, a man smiling at 3.34am after losing a Grand Slam title is the most instructive image of his year: the standard has not dropped, only the sample size.

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