Stefanos Tsitsipas reveals stunning reason for heavy Carlos Alcaraz loss

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Stefanos Tsitsipas blamed melatonin pills for coming out slow and flat against Carlos Alcaraz in their French Open match. On Tuesday evening, Alcaraz dismantled Tsitsipas 6-2 6-1 7-6 (5) in the French Open quarterfinal. At one point, it looked like Tsitsipas would get absolutely destroyed as Alcaraz had a 5-2 lead in the third set and two match points on the Greek's serve.

But Tsitsipas managed to save those two match points - break back Alcaraz - force a tie-break. However, Alcaraz kept his composure and completed a three-set win.

Tsitsipas blames melatonin pills for the heavy Alcaraz loss

“It wasn't really that much fun out there in the first two sets.

I felt completely off, kind of like sleeping in a way. He played great. I mean, I don't think he played exceptional, but he played great. One thing that I'm going to try to avoid in the future is to have melatonin pills and naps before matches because it clearly doesn't seem to be working.

I wondered to myself why I did not feel the adrenalin and stress. I wondered in my first service game. I was more calm than usual. I tried to nap before the game. About 20 minutes which I usually do not do, actually never done. My start was highly likely down to this," Tsitsipas said, via Eurosport.

Before taking on Alcaraz, Tsitsipas had his matches against Diego Schwartzman and Sebastian Ofner scheduled as the last for Court Suzanne-Lenglen. Tsitsipas suggested that those two late finished ruined his sleep schedule and he went for melatonin pills.

"The schedule has been a little bit difficult the last few days. I had some late-night sessions. Not super late, but late enough for me to kind of have my sleep schedule ruined, in a way. Sleep is a very vital important thing, and recovery is the most important thing when competing and playing big Slams like this," Tsitsipas said.