Carlos Alcaraz broke protocol at Miami Open in overheard chat before damning defeat
Carlos Alcaraz raised eyebrows with his behaviour before his Miami Open exit.
Carlos Alcaraz broke protocol when addressing Queen Sofia of Spain before crashing out of the Miami Open. Alcaraz suffered a shock round of 32 defeat to Sebastian Korda on Sunday.
The world No. 1 tennis player dropped the first set to American opponent Korda, rallied to win the second set 7-5 but lost 6-4 in the third, handing him an early exit in Miami for the second year in a row. The 22-year-old Spaniard cut a frustrated figure throughout the match as he told his coach Samuel Lopez "I can’t do it anymore" and "I want to go home now, man."
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Alcaraz’s disappointing performance was preceded by a faux-pas when meeting Queen Sofia at Hard Rock Stadium. The Spanish royal, who is the mother of King Felipe VI, was enjoying a three-day official visit to Miami for the presentation of the America&Spain250 and took some time to visit the tournament’s facilities.
She was warmly greeted by the two Spanish tennis players involved in the competition: Alcaraz and Rafa Jodar. But Queen Sofia's spontaneous meeting with the former has sparked plenty of discussion as the young tennis phenomenon stunned everyone with how casual he was when talking to her.
Their brief conversation, which was captured on camera, saw them exchange a few words about the tournament. Alcaraz thanked her for the visit, hugged her and received two kisses on the cheek. But he broke protocol by using the informal Spanish version of the word 'You' when addressing the Queen Mother.
Alcaraz said: "Hey! How are you? How's it going? Thanks a lot! Thank you! I hope to hold the trophy." But Spanish speakers were stunned to hear him use the informal 'Tu' instead of the formal 'Usted' during their exchange.
There are usually unspoken rules on how to address royals formally. But, given how Queen Sofia embraced Alcaraz and his lofty status as one of Spain’s most talented sportspeople, he may be forgiven on this occasion.
Their warm encounter and chemistry has already received hundreds of thousands of views online. Unfortunately, Alcaraz’s defeat to Korda meant he had little to cheer about afterwards, having also been beaten by David Goffin in his opening match at the same tournament a year ago.
