In Paris, Carlos Alcaraz’s final stop is already in the second round. Shortly before the ATP Finals, the 20-year-old is looking for his form.
The nasty surprise on Halloween left Carlos Alcaraz perplexed. “To be honest, I have to take some time after the defeat before I think about the next few days,” said Spain’s new tennis king after his shocking second-round exit against a qualifier at the Masters in Paris.
Battered, flawed, not very scary: around two weeks before the ATP Finals in Turin, Wimbledon winner Alcaraz is desperately looking for his form and a way back to the top. “I just didn’t feel comfortable on the pitch,” said the world number two after the deserved 3:6, 4:6 against Russian Roman Safiullin: “There are a lot of things to improve, a lot of things to practice.”
The 20-year-old returned to the court in Paris after suffering problems with his lower back and left foot, trained in the French capital with, among others, his worst opponent Novak Djokovic – but was still miles away from his running strength and best form from the summer.
“My strokes were quite good. But physically, in terms of movement, I still have to improve a lot,” said Alcaraz, who after the early exit in Paris has little chance of finishing the year at the top of the world rankings again like he did in 2022 .
Before the best eight players of the year compete in Turin (November 12th to 19th), he still has “many days of training to reach the level that I want to play,” emphasized Alcaraz, who won six titles this year and has a record of 63:10 – but suffered four defeats in the last eight weeks.