How Carlos Alcaraz put a 'difficult month' behind him with his first Monte Carlo title

It started with a smile.

Carlos Alcaraz lost the first set to Lorenzo Musetti in their Monte Carlo final, and looked a little grim while doing it. He came out of the gates for his first title match at this tournament playing, as commentator Gilles Muller described it, “hectic” tennis. His shots sailed long and wide early, but rather than rein them in, he kept firing for the lines. Sometimes he rushed, and other times, his body was too far away from the ball; he never seemed settled.

On the other side of the court, Musetti was also playing his first final here, and his first Masters 1000 final anywhere. But he started with a burst of excited energy. Over the course of the week, he’d survived a series of near-fatal moments, and engineered four laborious comebacks with the help of a pro-Italian crowd. Deep in his bones, he may have been exhausted, but he rode his adrenaline to a 6-3 first set win, and closed it with an audacious forehand drop shot that even the speed-demon Spaniard couldn’t track down.

The change came after the first game of the second set, when Alcaraz walked to the corner to chat with his team. Whatever was said between them made him smile. We’re used to seeing that from him, of course, but the expression still came as something of a surprise at that perilous moment. Alcaraz, it appeared, still believed there were better things ahead.

He didn’t waste any time turning that faith into reality, and finding a better balance between power and margin. In the next game, Alcaraz started by winning a point with a solid series of forehands; this time he dialed back the risk and didn’t try for all-out winners. After that, he used his forehand as a set-up for a volley winner. But Carlitos being Carlitos, he didn’t play it overly safe, either. After missing a drop shot, he tried another on the very next point, and it worked.

Alcaraz had his service break, and, while no one knew it at the time, he also had the title. He held for 3-0, and then broke the set open with two brilliant crosscourt passes in the next game. After the second one, he put his hand to his ear and listened as the crowd roared for him, rather than his opponent. Alcaraz was grinning from ear to ear now, and Musetti was out of adrenaline. By the start of the third, the Italian was showing signs of a hip flexor injury on his right side. After an hour and 47 minutes, with the audience quieted, Alcaraz had a 3-6, 6-1, 6-0 win, and his first Masters 1000 title since Indian Wells 13 months ago.

Read more: Carlos Alcaraz is now 10-1 in his career in Grand Slam and Masters 1000 finals combined

Afterward, Alcaraz, who said he felt “dreadful” after an early loss in Miami in March, alluded to some recent struggles, both on and off court.

“It’s been a difficult month for me,” he said. “Stepping on the court and playing the matches has been really difficult. To find the way not to think about everything, just focus on the important things, to just follow the good path again.”

“Seeing the hard work pay off makes me really happy.”

With his second title of 2025, Alcaraz reclaims his No. 2 ranking from Alexander Zverev, and gains ground on Jannik Sinner. He can gain more at upcoming events on home soil in Barcelona and Madrid, before Sinner returns in Rome.

Alcaraz didn’t right the ship by suddenly playing flawless tennis. For the week, he made more errors than winners (that was true in the final as well). He lost the first set three times. And he was very nearly put out by Arthur Fils in the quarterfinals.

It’s been a difficult month for me. ... Seeing the hard work pay off makes me really happy. Carlos Alcaraz

He won instead by not letting the perfect be the enemy of the good—or, in this case, the successful. He didn’t let early errors scare him off his attacking style, and opening-set losses rob him of belief. The analytics people in tennis have long believed that unforced errors don’t matter as much as we think—it’s the player who can force the most misses from his opponent who usually ends up winning. Alcaraz was proof of that theory this week.

“I’m really happy to win Monte Carlo for the first time,” Alcaraz said. “I’m proud with how I dealt with everything.”

It began with a smile when he was down a set, and ended with a wider one when he held up the trophy.