Carlos Alcaraz rarely shows anger on court. But on February 19 at the 2026 Qatar Open in Doha, the World No. 1 could not hide his frustration. During his quarterfinal match against Karen Khachanov, Alcaraz was given a time violation for going over the 25-second shot clock between points. Chair umpire Marija Cicak made the call in the first set. Alcaraz immediately walked toward her and questioned the decision. He looked upset and confused.
Cicak did not change her ruling. The moment quickly became one of the biggest talking points of the tournament. Even though he lost the first set, Carlos Alcaraz stayed calm after that exchange. He fought back, won the match against Karen Khachanov, and later lifted the ATP 500 Qatar Open title. Still, fans online debated whether ATP rules on the shot clock are too strict, especially after long rallies.
Kim Clijsters supports Carlos Alcaraz and questions strict ATP shot clock rules after Karen Khachanov match
Four-time Grand Slam champion Kim Clijsters shared her thoughts on the February 25 episode of her podcast Love All w/ Kim Clijsters. She made it clear she understood why Carlos Alcaraz reacted the way he did in Doha.
“I love that Carlos Alcaraz is actually saying that stuff because I think it does for him to do it,” Kim Clijsters said.
“It must be really frustrating or something must be triggering. It comes from a place where he’s very annoyed by it. So, I enjoyed that he spoke up and that maybe behind the scenes, he mentioned the ATP rules, so, maybe they’ll change a little bit about the shot clock and I agree. ”
Kim Clijsters also brought up a similar moment involving Novak Djokovic at the Australian Open semifinal last month.
“We saw something at the Australian Open with Novak Djokovic in the semifinals. In the fifth set, where he got a time violation after a super long rally. There’s time like that, where I feel as a referee and chair umpire, you just have to read the room little bit, because as a tennis fan, when I am watching this, you have to give these players their moment to recover. Wheter it’s one or two seconds more, it really is not going to make a big deal,” she added.
Meanwhile, Carlos Alcaraz showed his class in the final. He beat Arthur Fils in just 50 minutes and dropped only one set in the entire tournament. After the win, he stayed humble.
“There is always room for improvement,” Carlos Alcaraz said in his post-match interview in Doha. “There’s always room for weaknesses. As I said, I don’t know if it was at the beginning of the tournament or after the first match, that I can see myself with weaknesses. I’m just trying to improve in the practices, just trying to be better on the matches.”
Carlos Alcaraz now heads to Indian Wells, where he is a two-time champion.
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