Critical Carlos Alcaraz gets encouragement from team after advancing at Australian Open

MELBOURNE, Australia—Carlos Alcaraz doesn’t exactly present like a hardened perfectionist, but clearly one doesn’t get to No. 1 in the world without working until things are exactly right.

Still, the Spaniard discovered there was more to like from his second-round performance at the 2026 Australian Open against Yannick Hanfmann after a talk with his team.

“I didn't see myself playing that good,” confessed the top seed after a 7-6 (4), 6-3, 6-2 win over Hanfmann. “But then talking to my team, I realized that I played better than I thought, which I think is great!”

Those who watched Alcaraz’s 2025 Netflix docuseries may recall the exacting standards of his team when it was led by former world No. 1 Juan Carlos Ferrero. Ferrero has since departed the squad—leaving Samuel Lopez in charge—but the 22-year-old Alcaraz insisted it is often the case that he and his team see things differently after a match.

“I think when you are on court you cannot see the right thing sometimes,” said Alcaraz, who is yet to drop a set through his first two matches in Melbourne. “So, you're stuck in the negative thoughts or negative things. You don't see the global or the whole thing.

“When you're watching the match from outside, everything is more clear. The feeling of how I felt on court, that means that's why I said that I didn't feel that good. But obviously is because of Yannick that he played, or he played great shots, that he didn't let me feel comfortable on the court. In general, as I said, it's just about those feelings.

“Those comments with my team after the match help me a lot in the next round see the things more clear.”

One thing Alcaraz would like to work on before his third round? His backhand return.

“Sometimes it's the way that I feel it,” he explained of several misses against Hanfmann. “Sometimes it's just going forward. Sometimes it's, you know, wait a little bit farther.

“Here in Melbourne every day is breezy. So sometimes that wind is difficult to adjust the shot if you are farther on the court, which I just trying to make the best return possible in that point. But obviously something that I'm trying to fix, I'm trying to be better.”

Awaiting him there is No. 32 seed Corentin Moutet, who stands between Alcaraz and further pursuit of becoming the youngest man to ever achieve the Career Grand Slam.