For 14th ranked Tommy Paul, it was a match to remember. On Friday night, the American scripted the biggest win of his career as he beat world No.1 Carlos Alcaraz in the quarterfinal tie of the 2023 Canadian Open in Toronto. Tommy took almost two and a half hours to register a 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 win and reach his maiden Masters 1000 semifinal. On the other hand, it was a night to forget for the newly-crowned Wimbledon champion Carlos Alcaraz, who did not just see his 14-match winning streak come to an end but also was witnessed in a never-before-seen moment of absolute fury during the quarterfinal match.
Alcaraz, who has not lost a match since the second week of June when he lifted the Queen's and the Wimbledon crown before heading to Toronto for the first time in his career, did show glimpses of being frustrated at his own game during the match against Hubert Hurkacz in the round of 16. But on Friday, it had reached another level after he had lost the opening set via double fault.
As Alcaraz walked towards his bench, he threw his racquet, something that the young Spaniard has never done in his career.
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Nick Kyrgios' verdict on the incident
Few fans on social media were not left happy at Alcaraz's act in his three-setter loss in Toronto. However, Kyrgios, who recently withdrew himself from US Open and Laver Cup owing to his continued recovery from a wrist injury, shut fans with an x-rated verdict, saying at least Alcaraz showed that "he is human".
{{/usCountry}}Few fans on social media were not left happy at Alcaraz's act in his three-setter loss in Toronto. However, Kyrgios, who recently withdrew himself from US Open and Laver Cup owing to his continued recovery from a wrist injury, shut fans with an x-rated verdict, saying at least Alcaraz showed that "he is human".
{{/usCountry}}"Who the fu*k cares…. The dude is gonna be carrying the tennis load for the next decade.. good on him for showing he is human. Frustrated not playing up to standards. Also let’s start giving codes to umpires," he tweeted.
Alcaraz later bounced back in the second set, but the errors creeped back in during the final set as the world No.1 went down, leaving his revenge against the American unaccomplished.
Exactly 12 months back, when a 20-year-old Alcaraz was making his debut in Canadian Open, Paul bounced back from a set down to beat the Spaniard 6-7(4) 7-6(7) 6-3. However, Alcaraz did avenge his loss later in Miami Open 2023 where he had won 6-4, 6-4.