Tsitsipas blames nap, sleeping pills, ‘late’ matches for Alcaraz mauling

Stefanos Tsitsipas put his three-set mauling by top seed Carlos Alcaraz in their French Open quarter-final down to sleeping pills, pre-match naps, and late matches rather than the Spaniard's sensational quality.

Alcaraz pulverised the fifth seed to take a 6-2 6-1 5-1 lead with a jaw-dropping display before a brief comeback by Tsitsipas forced a third set tiebreak which the Spaniard won as well.

While Alcaraz described the win as one of the best of his career, for his opponent the defeat was self-induced.

"One thing that I'm going to try to avoid in the future is have melatonin pills and naps before matches because it clearly doesn't seem to be working," a visibly disappointed Tsitsipas said.

"I don't think he played any crazy tennis. I allowed it to happen. I don't think he played his best match. He played great. I mean, I don't think he played...