Carlos Alcaraz was eliminated in the round of 16 at the 2024Rolex Paris Masters, confirming that he does not have a great feeling with this tournament. The former world number 1 reached the quarterfinals in 2022 as best result in the last Masters 1000 of the season and has never expressed his best tennis in these conditions, as he himself had admitted in recent days.
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The young Spanish champion was defeated by local idol Ugo Humbert at the end of a very spectacular battle, even if the world number 2 really started to play only from the second set. The French player - who was supported by his fans and could play without too much pressure - made a difference in the decisive moment of the third set and perfectly exploited the numerous free errors of his opponent.
Carlitos - who had already not shone in his debut against Nicolas Jarry - seemed far from his best form and confirmed that he was not at ease on very fast surfaces (as seen in Cincinnati this summer). The four-time Grand Slam champion will soon reach Turin to get used to the conditions and be ready for the start of the Nitto ATP Finals, in which he lost last year against Novak Djokovic in the semifinals.
A bad KO
Due to his premature elimination in Paris-Bercy, the Spanish ace could be overtaken by German Alexander Zverev in second place in the ATP ranking. It would be a big problem for Alcaraz, who may have to face his great rival Jannik Sinner already in the group stage at the ATP Finals in Turin.
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To overtake Carlitos in the ATP ranking, the German champion must reach at least the final in the Masters 1000 in Paris-Bercy. Sascha will face Stefanos Tsitsipas today in the quarterfinals, while in the semi-finals he would face the winner of the match between Holger Rune and Alex de Minaur.
Already after his first match against Jarry in Bercy, Alcaraz had complained a lot about the excessive speed of these courts. "When I played the first match, the stats came out that it is the fastest court in the Masters 1000, probably on the tour right now," the Spaniard said in his press conference. "This is crazy. I don't know. Probably and the fastest one, you know, in the last ten years in this tournament.
I don't know why they do it. I don't know why they have changed a lot, you know, a court from other tournaments and obviously in the same tournament, you know, comparing to other years. So it surprise me a little bit, so I came here with not too many days. Probably I had to come earlier to get used to these conditions but I didn't. But, you know, honestly all I can say is I don't understand why they did it."
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The former world No.1 praised Humbert for his performance: "Well, not indoor courts. This court. I mean, I don't want to say something that there is going to sounds an excuse. You know, first of all, Ugo deserves to win, that's obvious. But it depends. Because I play, for example, the Davis Cup indoor court, and the court was way slower than this one.
Too many ups and downs
This defeat inParis-Bercy confirms that the 2024 of Alcaraz was characterized by several ups and downs. A season with two Grand Slam titles and a Masters 1000, plus the silver medal at the Paris Olympics, can never be considered negative, but the Spanish ace will have to have more consistency to approach Sinner in the ATP ranking.
Carlos' next goals will be the Nitto ATP Finals in Turin and the Davis Cup Finals in Malaga, where he will try to close a year that is still excellent. As he had already pointed out during the tournament in Cincinnati this summer, the number 2 of the world does not like to play in conditions too fast having no time to set its variations and his changes of pace from the baseline.
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Its really fast for me. Honestly, it depends on the player, you know there are some players who like this speed, the Spaniard explained in an interview with Tennis TV. But I think it should be a little bit slower, just for the tournament, the people theres gonna be more rallies, more tennis to watch. But yeah, we are tennis players, every week is different, you know, different conditions, different courts, different balls. We have to get used to it, but at some point it should be different, it should be better. But you know, we cant do nothing about it he concluded.
