Carlos Alcaraz 'shocked' by Wimbledon development as Spaniard gets wake-up call

Carlos Alcaraz admits he finds it 'shocking' that so many seeded stars have fallen in the early rounds of Wimbledon. Four of the top 10 have already crashed out of the men's draw, and the statistics are even more striking for the women, where four of the top five are on their way home.

Alexander Zverev is the highest-ranked man to fall at this early stage of the year's only grass-court Grand Slam, suffering a painful five-set defeat to Arthur Rinderknech in the first round. Seventh seed Lorenzo Musetti, eigth seed Holger Rune and ninth seed Daniil Medvedev also failed to make it through their opening matches against players who went in as massive underdogs.

Alcaraz says the unusual development has prompted him to sharpen up his own game for fear of joining those four fallers.

"I paid attention on that," he stated after beating British rookie Oliver Tarvet in straight sets. "I hear it is the most seeded [players] out of the tournament in the first round. So it's kind of shocking."

The world No.2 continued: "In that way, I just try to be more focused, even more focused on the tournament. In the first round I had one foot out playing a fifth set [against Fabio Fognini]. Let's see how the tournament turns out.

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"For me, as I said, I am trying to be even more focused on the matches because, as we can see, every match is different, every match is a really tough, tough match. Everything can happen in tennis, even in the first round. I'm glad that I just won two matches already and I'm just trying to keep it going."

Alcaraz shared Centre Court with Tarvet - the lowest-ranked player in the main draw - on Wednesday. He came through 6-1 6-4 6-4 but tipped the Brit to enjoy a bright future if he continues putting the work in.

"It seems like he loves tennis," said the five-time Grand Slam winner. "He played with such a good passion out there, that is really important. How far can he go? I don't know.

"As far as I know, he's in college. Let's see what he's going to choose. If he chooses to stay in college, the level that we can see in college is pretty high. Let's see, if he keeps working hard, if he keeps practicing hard and playing at a professional level, I think he can go far."