The World No.1 Carlos Alcaraz admitted that he could not handle the pressure that David Goffin put on him in the opening round of the Astana Open. The Spaniard feels he needs to learn from it and come back more robust in the upcoming matches.

Goffin stunned the US Open champion by 7-5, 6-3. In fact, in the last 62 matches, Alcaraz had at least won one set but his streak was broken by the Belgian in the Round of 32.

Alcaraz feels he could not adapt to the court’s pace and it was difficult for him to get going.

“It was a tough game, David played wonderfully,” Alcaraz said according to Marca after the defeat. 

“Coming back to the competition is never easy. [Goffin] has already played two games on this court, which is not the easiest to get used to. It is very slow and it has been complicated. 

“He played very aggressively and I couldn’t handle the pressure he put on me. It’s something I have to learn from, I have to take note of the lessons from this match.”

This was Alcaraz’s first defeat on the tour as the World No.1 and he will be determined to bounce back stronger. 

In fact, the youngster was recently beaten by Canada’s Felix Auger-Aliassime 6-7(3), 6-4, 6-2 in the Davis Cup tie. He went on to beat Kwon Soon-woo 6-4 7-6(1) to seal Spain’s victory over South Korea, which helped his team qualify for the quarterfinals of the tournament. Spain will now take on Croatia in the knockout stages.

Meanwhile, Alcaraz and Novak Djokovic were among the other stars who visited the autism center in Astana.