Carlos Alcaraz’s superb start to the 2026 season was ended on Saturday with defeat to Daniil Medvedev.
Medvedev has been in scintillating form to start the year and continued to impress by beating Alcaraz 6-3, 7-6 in Indian Wells.
The Russian, who appears to have recaptured his best form, will now battle Jannik Sinner for the Indian Wells title on Sunday.
Which member of the ‘Big Three’ is Carlos Alcaraz most similar to? Let us know why below👇
Medvedev’s level of play did not go unnoticed by Alcaraz, who expressed his admiration for the Russian after the contest.
Alcaraz was left particularly shocked by one aspect of Medvedev’s game, reporters in California heard on Saturday.
Carlos Alcaraz was surprised by Daniil Medvedev’s aggressive play
During his post-match press conference, Alcaraz expressed his surprise at Medvedev’s unrelenting style of play, noting that the Russian hit less errors than he expected.
“How aggressive he played all the time,” Alcaraz said when asked what has surprised him.
“I think that surprised me a little bit. I knew at the beginning that he was going to play aggressive, but how, the way he did it, surprised me a lot, because he didn’t miss any or he didn’t miss as much as I expected [smiling].
“He was playing aggressive, and he didn’t even miss. So it was tricky.
“But, yeah, and the conditions was totally different, because the ball was bouncing super, super high. It feels like after my serve, he just start in a good position to return well all the time.
“Yeah, and it feels like he always find the window, the space, to make the passing shot or to play a good shot for making me volleying in a bad position.
“As I said, it was tricky, and he just found every solutions after every main shot.”
Before Medvedev’s victory on Saturday, Alcaraz had won four consecutive matches against Medvedev, and six of his last seven.
Carlos Alcaraz and Daniil Medvedev’s ATP Tour meetings
| Tournament | Round | Winner | Score |
| Indian Wells 2026 | SF | Medvedev | 6-3, 7-6 |
| Beijing 2024 | SF | Alcaraz | 7-5, 6-3 |
| Wimbledon 2024 | SF | Alcaraz | 6-7, 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 |
| Indian Wells 2024 | F | Alcaraz | 7-6, 6-1 |
| ATP Finals 2023 | RR | Alcaraz | 6-4, 6-4 |
| US Open 2023 | SF | Medvedev | 7-6, 6-1, 3-6, 6-3 |
| Wimbledon 2023 | SF | Alcaraz | 6-3, 6-3, 6-3 |
| Indian Wells 2023 | F | Alcaraz | 6-3, 6-2 |
| Wimbledon 2021 | R2 | Medvedev | 6-4, 6-1, 6-2 |
Amongst those victories were two meetings in Indian Wells, both of which Alcaraz won in 2023 and 2024.
Medvedev will hope to break another losing streak when he plays Jannik Sinner on Sunday.
Medvedev, who won the 2021 US Open, has a 7-8 losing record against Sinner and has only won one of their past nine meetings on the Tour.
Medvedev last beat Sinner at the 2024 Wimbledon Championships. Since that victory, Medvedev has lost three consecutive matches against the Italian.
Will Daniil Medvedev ever win another Grand Slam title?
Carlos Alcaraz tried to change his game after the first set against Daniil Medvedev
After losing the first set, Alcaraz realised something needed to change if he were to have any hope of winning the match.
“Yeah, I realized that I had to do something different,” Alcaraz told reporters in California. “From the first set, I think, as I said, I just try few times something different in the first set, and he was, like, you know, as I said, he was finding every solution and every answer to my shots.
“So it was a little bit difficult. The shadow came to the court a little bit. It feels like it wasn’t that hot since the beginning of the match. So I just tried to play, like, with more height, let’s say, with more bounce, and trying to wait for my chances.
“I tried to play aggressive from the return, and after that, trying to play, like, long rallies, the first, two, three shots, trying to play with a high bounce, and after that, try to find, you know, the good space to go aggressive and go for it.
“I just went to the net few more times that it was successful. Not always, but most of them.
“Yeah, I just had my chances that I didn’t take. I would say the difference was he just save four breakpoints, and I didn’t save any. So I would say that’s a big difference.”
Alcaraz is correct in his analysis: he did have chances to force his way back into the contest.
The Spaniard has two set points at 5-4 in the second set, but was unable to convert either of these opportunities.
Had Alcaraz secured the second set, there is every chance that he would have gone on to win the match.
