Carlos Alcaraz had every reason to feel good about his tennis after lifting the Japan Open trophy, but Shanghai had other plans. Zizou Bergs handed the Spaniard a 7-5, 7-6(4) defeat in the third round of the Shanghai Masters on October 12, and the upset came with plenty of drama beyond the scoreline. Alcaraz vented his frustration at his team, questioned the playing conditions, and later delivered a brutally honest assessment of his own performance. Bergs, meanwhile, produced the biggest win of his career and kept his nerve when the match threatened to slip away.

Alcaraz arrived in Shanghai having defended his Tokyo title and put together a seven-match winning streak. Bergs, ranked No. 39, broke the Spaniard’s serve three times, hit 24 winners to Alcaraz’s 16, and closed out both sets despite facing resistance late in each.

But even beyond all of this, here are five moments from Alcaraz’s Shanghai exit that deserve a closer look.

1. Alcaraz’s On-Court Rant Revealed Just How Frustrated He Was

Alcaraz was visibly struggling to settle into the match, and his frustration spilled over as Bergs kept applying pressure. After the Belgian put himself in front late in the opening set, cameras caught the Spaniard speaking animatedly toward his coaching box. His complaint centred on the unpredictable bounce he felt he was getting from the ball.

“I don’t understand a thing. It can’t be that one ball bounces and the other slides on me. I can’t, man, I can’t play like this, man. Damn it!” Alcaraz said in footage shared on social media.

Alcaraz had recovered an earlier break before losing his serve again at 5-5, allowing Bergs to serve out the set. Spanish broadcaster Cadena SER reported that Alcaraz hit just five winners against 15 unforced errors in the opening set and won only 27% of his second-serve points. His difficulty handling the ball was showing up in his shot selection and execution, leaving Bergs with opportunities to take control of rallies.

The Spaniard’s frustration was not limited to the ball, either. In his post-match comments, Alcaraz explained that the conditions felt different from his opening match against Juan Manuel Cerundolo, which took place under a closed roof.

Against Cerundolo, the court had felt fast. Outdoors against Bergs, Alcaraz felt the ball was bigger and slower. He suggested the tournament should review the difference.

Alcaraz was describing his experience of the conditions, not establishing that the tournament had supplied defective balls. His first-round match was played under a closed roof, while the encounter with Bergs took place outdoors, making the conditions different. He reiterated his concerns after the match and called for the tournament to look into the issue. Bergs, meanwhile, managed to adapt well enough to win in straight sets.

2. Coach Samuel López Had a Blunt Message for His Struggling Player

Alcaraz did not have to figure everything out alone. After Bergs secured the first set, the Spaniard had a lengthy conversation with coach Samuel López, who tried to get him back to his natural attacking game.

The advice was simple: stop playing tentatively and commit to the shots. López reportedly urged Alcaraz to hit with greater force, use more topspin toward Bergs’s backhand, and direct second serves toward the Belgian’s body. One line stood out: “If you have to miss, miss big,” López told his player, according to Tennishead’s report.

López also wanted Alcaraz to stop letting Bergs’s slice dictate the rhythm of rallies. More topspin toward the Belgian’s backhand would give the Spaniard a more reliable attacking pattern, while serving at Bergs’s body could make it harder for him to return aggressively. Cadena SER reported similar instructions from the coaching-box conversation, including López’s call for Alcaraz to play with greater conviction even if it meant making mistakes.

Alcaraz was struggling to find a reliable way to control the rallies, and cautious shot selection was not helping. Bergs had a strong serving day, so Alcaraz needed to take his chances when he got into points rather than allow the Belgian to dictate the exchanges.

Bergs finished with 24 winners to Alcaraz’s 16 and converted three of his four break-point opportunities, according to Field Level Media. He was putting enough pressure on the Spaniard to create openings and then capitalising on them. Alcaraz needed to turn more of his service returns into attacking opportunities instead of allowing Bergs to settle into his preferred patterns.

The conversation did not produce an immediate turnaround. Alcaraz fought back after Bergs served for the match in the second set, but he could not carry that momentum through the tiebreak. Bergs won the final three points after the score reached 4-4 and sealed a 7-5, 7-6(4) victory.

Alcaraz had dragged the second set into a tiebreak, but Bergs held his nerve when the match reached its decisive points. He won the final three points to complete the upset, refusing to let the Spaniard’s late fightback force a deciding set.

For López, the challenge was to get Alcaraz to trust his weapons again. For Bergs, the task was to keep making the Spaniard uncomfortable. The Belgian did that well enough to leave Shanghai with the biggest win of his career.

3. Bergs’s Lengthy Bathroom Break Sparked a Separate Debate

The tennis was not the only talking point after the first set. Once Bergs took the opener 7-5, he left the court for a bathroom and change-of-attire break. Reports put the delay at around eight minutes, and Alcaraz was left waiting before play resumed.

Cadena SER put the interruption at approximately nine and a half minutes. Alcaraz remained on court while Bergs was away, hitting balls against the advertising boards as he waited for play to resume.

The length of the break drew criticism from former British player Jamie Murray, who questioned why Bergs was allowed so much time away from the court. As TennisUpToDate reported, the Belgian returned without receiving a penalty.

The ATP rulebook cited here allows three minutes for a toilet break and five minutes for a combined toilet and change-of-attire break. Players who exceed the permitted time can receive consecutive time violations. The reported duration of Bergs’s absence therefore raised questions about how the break was handled, although the elapsed time alone does not establish when the official clock started or what the chair umpire authorised.

There was no need to assume that the delay alone decided the contest, especially given Bergs’s performance across both sets. Alcaraz had just lost a close set and was trying to reset, while the extended pause left him waiting before he could attempt a recovery.

A long interruption can affect a player’s preparation, particularly when they are trying to regain their rhythm after losing a set. But Alcaraz had already struggled with his serve and shot execution, and there is no clear evidence that the bathroom break caused his subsequent difficulties. Bergs returned and continued to play the better tennis at the decisive moments.

The break became a talking point because it interrupted the rhythm of a high-profile match. Whether it affected Alcaraz’s level remains unclear, but the episode attracted attention beyond the result itself.

4. Alcaraz’s Post-Match Confession Was Far More Brutal Than the Scoreline

Alcaraz did not try to dress up his performance after the defeat. Asked what he was least satisfied with, the Spaniard gave a strikingly blunt answer: “Well, I would say everything.”

In his post-match interview, he explained that his return position was poor, his mistakes piled up once rallies developed, and he never felt comfortable enough with his shots to find a solution. He also gave Bergs credit for serving well and making the most of the opportunities he created.

Alcaraz said he had been returning well in recent matches but could not find the right position against Bergs. That left him struggling to establish rallies in which he could use his groundstrokes to dictate play. He also admitted that he made too many unforced errors once the exchanges developed. His problems extended beyond the ball’s bounce to his positioning, shot selection and inability to settle into a consistent pattern.

Alcaraz did mention the conditions, but he did not make them his only explanation for the loss. When discussing awkward bounces and shots that seemed fortunate, he acknowledged that Bergs followed those moments with strong play. The Belgian still had to win the points, and he repeatedly did.

Alcaraz pointed to occasions when Bergs appeared to catch the frame of his racket and still managed to keep the ball in play. He also acknowledged that the Belgian took advantage of those moments. Bergs’s serving, winners and success on break points gave him a substantial contribution to the result beyond any fortunate contacts.

Alcaraz was less able to see the positives immediately after the match. “Right now, all the negative thoughts come to my mind and none of the positives,” he admitted in the same interview.

He expected that perspective to change after some time away from the court and a review of the match with López and the rest of his team. He also said he was happy with his recent level after good tournaments, including his Japan Open title. The Shanghai defeat hurt, but he did not suggest that it erased the progress he had made since returning from a wrist injury.

The loss ended Alcaraz’s seven-match winning streak, which included his Japan Open title. The official Shanghai Masters coverage reported that he had gone 11-2 since returning from injury. His comments reflected the frustration of a player who had been building momentum but could not reproduce his recent level against Bergs. He intended to review the match with his team rather than draw conclusions from the defeat alone.

5. Bergs Conquered His Own Mental Barrier, Then Alcaraz Responded With Class

Bergs’s win was not just about serving well or taking advantage of Alcaraz’s errors. The Belgian had previously spoken about the mental challenge of facing tennis’s biggest names. He admitted that he sometimes gave top players too much respect, which could stop him from playing freely.

“I often have too much respect for these guys, which is part of the culture and I’m proud of that, but it’s a little bit in the way when you have to play them,” Bergs said, as reported by Town & Country.

He had previously summed up that problem with a memorable line about facing Novak Djokovic: “I was definitely playing the name, not the guy.” Against Alcaraz, Bergs appeared to approach the challenge differently. He served strongly, broke the Spaniard three times, and recovered after being broken when he served for the match. He then held his nerve in the tiebreak.

Bergs lost to Djokovic in straight sets at Shanghai in 2025 and later admitted that he had been too conscious of the name on the other side of the net. His victory over Alcaraz offered a different result against another of the sport’s leading players. Rather than allowing the occasion to dictate his game, he continued to attack and maintained his level when Alcaraz fought back in the second set.

Bergs’s ability to recover after being broken while serving for the match was particularly important. Alcaraz had brought the set back into contention, but Bergs won the final three points of the tiebreak to close out the victory. His nine aces and 24 winners, alongside three breaks of serve, reflected a performance in which he created opportunities as well as converting them.

The defeat also had a wider ranking consequence: Alcaraz’s early exit mathematically secured Alexander Zverev’s place as the year-end world No. 1, as Reuters reported.

Zverev’s year-end No. 1 ranking was confirmed as a result of Alcaraz’s defeat, adding another consequence to the Spaniard’s early exit. What began as a third-round match against the world No. 2 ended with Bergs claiming the biggest victory of his career and the season’s ranking race reaching its conclusion.

Alcaraz, however, did not let his frustration define the final word. He later posted a gracious message on Instagram: “Good luck Zizou Bergs and thank you Shanghai! See you next year,” according to Tennis365. It was a composed response after a rough afternoon, and a fitting end to a match that gave both players a moment they will remember.

Despite his anger during the match and his disappointment afterwards, Alcaraz congratulated Bergs and thanked Shanghai in his message. The Belgian left with a career-defining win, while Alcaraz turned his attention to reviewing a performance that had fallen well short of his expectations.