 "Exclusive | 'Carlos Alcaraz is player of season, he will be back stronger’: Somdev Devvarman")
If you were left absolutely stunned when Carlos Alcaraz and Novak Djokovic were ousted from the ongoing US Open, rather early, you were not alone.
Most people who follow international tennis couldn’t really believe what they were seeing. There are often upsets in international sport of course, but the two big favourites for the men’s title being shown the door at a Grand Slam in rounds two and three is an extremely rare occurrence, to say the least.
This is the first time since 1973 that the players seeded two and three were knocked out before the Round of 16 at Flushing Meadows.
According to former India tennis player, Somdev Devvarman, Alcaraz was carrying a lot of emotional baggage from his loss to Djokovic from their Olympic final showdown at Roland Garros, just a month ago. But what about Djokovic, who is 16 years older than Alcaraz? How should we interpret his current state – mental and physical ? After all, the most successful men’s singles tennis player of all time didn't win a single Grand Slam this year .
And what about the new crop of men’s players? How good are they and will the men’s game look similar to the current women’s game, which is completely open, after Djokovic brings the curtain down on his glittering career?
To find the answers to these questions and more, I spoke to Asian Games and Commonwealth Games gold medallist, Olympian and Arjuna awardee, Somdev Devvarman, who is a self-confessed tennis geek and loves dissecting and discussing any and all tennis.
Excerpts:
How stunned were you when both Carlos Alcaraz and Novak Djokovic were ousted from the men’s draw at the ongoing US Open?
I think the whole tennis world was stunned. The (Alexei) Popyrin one (beating Djokovic) some people might say they were not as stunned. But, (Botic) van de Zandschulp beating Carlos Alcaraz I think came out of nowhere. Especially the fashion in which it happened – straight sets, first set 6-1, Alcaraz not finding a way back and van de Zandschulp playing unbelievable tennis obviously. Nobody saw that coming. Against Popyrin, you still kind of expected that Novak would do what Novak usually does. Take care of business and move forward. But, unbelievable efforts by van de Zandschulp and Alexei, but I don’t think anybody saw that coming.
Let’s discuss Djokovic in some more detail – This is the first year since 2017 that he has gone without a single Grand Slam title. He did win the Olympic singles gold and in fact talked about Olympic exhaustion being one of the main factors for his below-par performance. As someone who played tennis at the highest level, can you explain what Djokovic meant exactly by not having much left in the tank after the Olympics? Was it a case of him wanting that gold medal so bad that he in a way didn’t have a chance to recover physically fully in time for his title defence at the US Open?
Alright. Let’s go back to 2016. In 2016, in May, Djokovic had not yet won a French Open title. He was going for his first, he wanted to obviously have all four Slam titles in his kitty. Keep in mind that in 2015 he lost to Stanislas Wawrinka in a match that he was favourite going in (at the 2015 French Open final). In 2014 (French Open final), he lost to Rafa (Nadal) in four sets. So, he loses 2014, he loses 2015, 2016 is the big one and he goes out there and he beats Andy (Murray – in the final). So, now he has won it. How does he respond after that emotional high? He goes to Wimbledon and loses in the third round to Sam Query. Goes to the Olympics and loses first round to Juan Martin del Potro. For me – completely different time, completely different energy – he was probably more energetic there, fitter. But here (at the Paris Olympics) – he knew going in that this was his last shot at the Olympics. He is not coming back and winning it at 41 (next edition of the Olympics in LA). So, this was his last shot, he was playing unbelievable tennis, he knew that the test in front of him was massive, for several reasons. The main one being the knee. That’s where he hurt it, on those courts (at Roland Garros) and then to come back and beat Alcaraz, who had just smashed him in the Wimbledon final. I think it took every ounce of his energy, you could see it in the reactions, the way he was crying. Usually, it’s him tearing a shirt or eating grass or something like that. But this time he has broken-down, his hands are shaking and his box is going crazy. You could see exactly what it means to him. He is a proud Serbian, he is a demi-god over there and he needed to have that Olympic medal – for him, for his country. So, once he has gone out and done that, he comes into the US Open with zero matches played in America. From day one – the serve is not as good as it can be, he is saying that he is struggling with his rhythm, comes into a match slightly deflated. Again, we are talking about the highest standards ever set by a human being on a tennis court. So, by his lofty standards, he was sub-par. Then you take into account the person he is playing, who is in the form of his life, who has won the Canadian Open, who now believes he can beat Djokovic, considering the last two times they have played they played four sets at the majors this year. And now he (Popyrin) is coming in with a new sense of what he can achieve. So, that belief was there for Alexei, unfortunately for Novak, the energy wasn’t.
For someone like Novak – who already has the most number of men’s singles Grand Slam titles – how big a setback will the third round loss to Alexei Popyrin be? Will it just be a blip or will he take it as a sign that he is slowing down, after all he is 37 years old…
The fact that he is slowing down is not something that anybody will ignore. And Novak being the kind of character that he is, I don’t imagine he is going to try and fight science or nature. So, he is going to understand that changes are going to be required and this is an opportunity for him to press the reset button. Yes, he has the experience of winning 24 (Slams), but under new circumstances it requires a different effort and Novak is well aware of that. So, he will realise that something needs to change, some things need to get better. Is he healthy, first of all? How healthy? Coaching staff wise, I do believe that there are a lot of things that probably need addressing. At the end of the day, I am sure Novak is going to look back and reflect more than anybody else and when the questions arise, as to what steps he needs to take, I firmly believe he is going to take very calculated ones.
What about Alcaraz’s exit in the second round ? In many ways one could say that he was just as exhausted as Djokovic after the Olympics – considering he was the runner-up – but he is also 16 years younger than Djoko – what did you make of his loss to Botic van de Zandschulp?
Again – emotion. The tennis part of the Olympics I don’t think is tiring, for these guys. The transition (from French Open to US open this year in terms of the courts) of course is not ideal, everybody knows that. It’s clay, back to grass, back to clay, then to hard. The transition is not ideal, but then it’s two out of three sets at the Olympics and these guys can handle that day in and day out, there’s no question. But, it’s the emotions. Again, if you recall, Alcaraz was in tears (after Olympic singles final loss to Djokovic), he was distraught, he knows this chance comes around only once in four years, and who knows what’s going to happen in four years. He knows he had a chance, he had opportunities in the match and then Novak played better and he was left with a silver medal, but emotionally it takes so much out. It took so much out of Novak and also out of Alcaraz. I don’t think it has much to do with age or tiredness. It’s got much more to do with the kind of emotions you put into these big matches and big situations. Honestly, I wouldn’t read too much into it. He’s 21 years old and he can play a bad match – it happens. He did give himself a small chance to win (at the US Open this time), yes, van de Zandschulp was zoning, and that happens sometimes against big hitters in the modern game. But whichever way you look at it, Carlos Alcaraz is the player of the season. He has won the French Open, he has won Wimbledon, and in some style, he has got an Olympic silver medal, he will probably finish the year as number two, maybe one. Depends on how the end of the year goes and he is going to start 2025 as a 22-year-old, with four majors (Grand Slam titles), an Olympic silver medal and he is going to be stronger, he will be faster, he will hit the ball better and he will add new elements to his game. That’s what happens at 22, when you work with a good coach which he does have (Juan Carlos Ferrero). So, drop the criticism on Alcaraz, he will be back, he will be back stronger. The brand of tennis he has been playing will always be exciting and will always be hard to beat.
Let’s talk about the man who is the World Number 1 currently and the top seed at the US Open – Jannik Sinner. Your take on his game and how it has progressed/improved over the years. He won his first Slam title earlier this year at the Australian Open and now could well add a second…
Unbelievable. He (Sinner) has always been a phenom. Right from the time he came on the tour, his ball striking ability, consistency of how hard he hits the ball, mentality, rapid improvement in big areas of his game, better decision making – every single aspect that you look at, he has improved in. When he split with (Riccardo) Piatti (long time coach), there was a cloud of doubt about whether this is the right decision, Piatti is the one who has worked with him since he (Sinner) was 14, but Sinner felt that he needed a change. He got that change – he got another Italian – Simone Vagnozzi, who is not that heralded as Piatti, former player, recently off-Tour. And that partnership, along with (Darren) Cahill (coach) and others was something that worked. Something that he needed, something that worked, something that her was comfortable with. You know, when a company does well, you have to credit the CEO – that he has made the right decisions, put the right people in the right positions, had a vision for exactly how he wanted to improve and got the right people involved. So, I think that is unbelievable maturity for someone that age. Her is 23, he is world number 1, he has already won a major (Grand Slam) and it feels like he has been around for six years. So, he has put himself in a great position, time after time, he has had to take tough decisions. At the end of last year in Paris, Sinner finished a match really late – around 2 am or something like that, and he was slated to play the next day and he pulls out of the tournament. He says – ‘it’s the Masters, I know it’s important, but my body is more important and I can’t recover and play and t hen be ready for the World Tour Finals next week. It’s just not happening, so I am sorry I am pulling out.’ Goes to the World Tour Finals, plays there, gets ready and comes to Melbourne (for the Australian Open), red hot. It’s decisions like that that impact the next part of the season and puts him in the right space of mind to play the right kind of tennis. That’s a tough decision. When do you see top players pulling out of tournaments, just because their recovery time is not enough? He has just been doing things the right way for a long time and it’s no surprise that he is here.
AND NEW.
— US Open Tennis (@usopen) August 30, 2024
Frances Tiafoe gets revenge over Ben Shelton in NYC!! pic.twitter.com/MmFi03NnKU
In the last few years – apart from Sinner and of course Djoko and Alcaraz – which men’s singles players have you been most impressed with and why?
This is a tough question and I will tell you why. The Tour (ATP) is at an extremely, extremely high level. Whether you look at Jack Draper at 25 (ranking) or (Tomas) Machac at 39 – everyone has different strengths. I think one of the things that has been done poorly and this is again in terms of marketing etc – when I was growing up, we looked at players like Sebastian Grosjean, or Karol Kucera or Byron Black – I am naming players who came and played the Chennai Open and I was super excited to watch them, regardless of what their rankings were or what they had won or what they were going to win. Nobody thought Kucera was going to be a semi-finalist at the Australian Open (1998), watching him and watching him beat (Andre) Agassi (Kucera had a 4-3 head-to-head record against Agassi) and these kinds of things felt like they were great for the game. So, when you ask me a question like this, I feel like my response is that every one of these new guys who is coming up is absolutely ridiculously unbelievable. The fact that there are only two teenagers in the Top 100, in a sport which is increasingly more physical than it was twenty years ago. There’s a reason there are only two (teenagers). So obviously the two of them (Juncheng Shang of China and Jakub Mensik of Czech Republic) and their teams are doing crazy things in order to put themselves in this situation. I think Jack Draper (of Great Britain) for sure is one of the people to look at, because the guy has got crazy fire-power. Ben Shelton (of USA) has got crazy fire-power. There are certain players who can just take the racquet out of your hand, when they are playing well. And then there are other players who do it differently, like (Daniil) Medvedev – he does it so differently. Everybody says that tennis is about hitting the ball harder, faster, being stronger and it is about all of those things, but then you see a Daniil Medvedev who plays it differently and that will change your perspective. For me, it’s just interesting to see that this era of men’s tennis – the depth is so deep. Let’s not forget that Luca Nardi (current singles ranking - 90) beat Novak Djokovic at a time when he was outside the Top 100 in the world and two weeks before that he had lost to Sumit Nagal, so Sumit entered the Top 100. These guys are playing at a very, very high level and that is something that is nice to be around.
Taylor Fritz. Frances Tiafoe.
— ESPN (@espn) September 4, 2024
Cinema 🍿 #USOpen pic.twitter.com/YuGhxdLuAe
Picking up then from where you left off – in your opinion, are we heading into an era of men’s tennis then which will become a lot like what the women’s singles game became after Serena Williams’ level dropped and she finally exited — completely open — anyone could beat anyone and win a Slam title? No real favourites as such, especially after Djokovic leaves, or will there still be around three to four stand-out players?
I think in the men’s draw there will be two stand-out players – Sinner and Alcaraz. Now, to see Roger (Federer), Rafa (Nadal), Novak (Djokovic) – all 20 Slam titles and more – that’s never happened in the game before and I don’t think that it’s going to happen right now. We are far from that. Before that era of Roger, Rafa and Novak, you had Juan Carlos (Ferrero) winning one (2003 French Open), Carlos Moya winning one (1998 French Open), you had Patrick Rafter winning two (1997 and 1998 US Open titles), Lleyton Hewitt winning two (2001 US Open and 2002 Wimbledon), Marat Safin winning two (2000 US Open and 2005 Australian Open), Thomas Johanson won the odd one (2002 Australian Open), Richard Krajicek won one (1996 Wimbledon), Andy Roddick won one (2003 US Open), Gustavo Kuerten won three (1997, 2000 & 2001 French Open), Yevgeny Kafelnikov won a couple (1996 French Open and 1999 Australian Open) and then of course (Pete) Sampras and (Andre) Agassi were the big ones after that with fourteen and eight (Grand Slam titles won respectively) in that era. So, I think it’s going to go back to a lot of guys having a chance to win a Slam, if they are playing really well, which is again, exciting in its own way.
Emma Navarro is headed to the @usopen quarterfinals for the very first time.
— DJ Sixsmith (@DJ_Sixsmith) September 1, 2024
She beats fellow American Coco Gauff for the second time this year in the fourth round of a grand slam.
The 23-year-old is looking for her first grand slam title. pic.twitter.com/pF00c6F8ML
The women’s singles draw at the US Open this time – who are the players who have impressed you the most at this year’s tournament?
Apart from the obvious ones, I would say (Emma) Navarro (of USA), because she has backed up one quarter-final at Wimbledon with another one (entered the semi-final by beating Paula Badosa in straight sets), that’s always a great sign. (Karolina) Muchova – there’s been a resurgence again. Had a tough injury, hardly played any tournaments this year, she’s back in the quarter-final, beating a number 5 player (Jasmine Paolini) 6-3, 6-3. These two players stand out. (Qinwen) Zheng is again showing her class, with her consistency this year. The two obvious ones are there for everyone to see (top seed Iga Swiatek and number 2 seed Aryna Sabalenka). There’s a reason they are 1 and 2 in the world, and there’s a reason why they are always the favourites. Every single player who made the quarter-finals is impressive. They have all had some hardship or the other. (Jessica) Pegula was just injured, she won the Canadian Open. She’s playing unbelievable tennis. Badosa – the last time she was in a quarter-final was at Roland Garros (French Open) in 2021. She was world number two back then. She’s come back, she’s 26 now and she is fighting her way back into form. I feel the way to look at the WTA Tour is – it’s about the stories. There were two billionaire daughters in the quarter-finals (Emma Navarro and Jessica Pegula). How cool is that. Then there are comeback players in Muchova and Badosa (lost in the QF to Navarro). Then there are two great ones (Swiatek and Sabalenka) and then there’s Zheng. So, there’s a lot of cool stuff, a lot of great stories, a lot of personalities emerging and it’s great for the sport. Whichever way you look at it, it’s great.
Overall, what is your take on the level of tennis we are seeing currently – across both the men’s and women’s games - how happy are you with the level of skill and competition both?
As a tennis fan I am delighted. That’s the most important thing. The game has ebbs and flows and players have ebbs and flows. So, as a person who enjoys watching tennis, as a person who is connected with tennis, it’s nice to see a high level. At the US Open, it’s always been about – who hits the ball hard, who hits the ball big, who is electric and then who executes in the big moments. And you are getting to see all of that. So, as a tennis fan I could not be happier.
You can catch Indian tennis champions and Davis Cuppers Somdev Devvarman and Purav Raja on their new Youtube channel – Tennis Geeks – where they talk about everything related to tennis.
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