Carlos Alcaraz on Daniil Medvedev defeat: 'I have never seen Daniil playing like this'

Match Reaction

Alcaraz on Medvedev defeat: 'I have never seen Daniil playing like this'

World No. 1 Alcaraz reflects on first loss of 2026

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Carlos Alcaraz waves to the Indian Wells crowd on Saturday after suffering his first loss of the season. By ATP Staff

Carlos Alcaraz suffered his first loss of the season Saturday in the semi-finals of the BNP Paribas Open. And as much as Spaniard hoped to extend his 16-0 start to 2026, he also was quick to acknowledge the performance by his opponent, Daniil Medvedev.

“I just have to give credit to Daniil. I think he just played an amazing match,” Alcaraz said. “Since the start of the match until the end of the match, he was playing unreal, I’ve got to say. I have never seen, to be honest, Daniil playing like this.

“He deserves completely the win today. He deserves completely to get through and play a final here. All I can say is just congratulations to him.”

This year’s Australian Open and Doha champion, Alcaraz explained that he felt no external pressure with his winning streak continuing to grow.

“I’m not thinking about ‘I need to win’ or ‘I have to win’. It's just about chasing my goals, chasing what I just set up before every tournament,” Alcaraz said. “That's my mindset, so I'm not getting tired about the people thinking I have to win every match.”

The 22-year-old’s straight-sets defeat was less reflective of his own play, and more representative of the form Medvedev, the former No. 1 player in the PIF ATP Rankings, has found. The 30-year-old has won 18 consecutive sets dating back to the start of his run to the Dubai title.

“How aggressive he played all the time, I think that surprised me a little bit. I knew at the beginning that he was going to play aggressive, but how, the way he did it, surprised me a lot, because he didn't miss any or he didn't miss as much as I expected,” Alcaraz said, cracking a smile. “He was playing aggressive, and he didn't even miss. So it was tricky.”

On a hot day in the California desert, Medvedev seemed to tire Alcaraz with his baseline play, forcing the Spaniard to put all his energy into every point to try to find an advantage. Alcaraz was able to seize the momentum with an early break in the second set and earned two set points later on, but was unable to force a decider.

“In the second set, I just started to feel much better. I realised what I have to do. I realised that I have to suffer, and I accepted it,” Alcaraz said. “I would say that that's why the second set was better.”

The World No. 1 departs Indian Wells with a 16-1 record on the season, according to the Infosys ATP Win/Loss Index. So even though he desired another trophy at the season’s first ATP Masters 1000 event of the season, there is plenty for Alcaraz to feel good about.

“I’m just a little bit disappointed right now. But at the same time, I have to see the good things about this loss,” Alcaraz said. “It is about the people and the players thinking that they need to play like this level if they want to beat me. So at some point it's going to [go in] my favour in some ways.

“But obviously I have been playing great tennis. And I just showed the players and showed the people that if they want to beat me, they have to play at [their] best level one hour and a half, two hours in every match.”

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