Carlos Alcaraz will play his match against Andrey Rublev at the ATP Finals. The presence of the Spanish ace was uncertain due to the flu virus that has hit him in recent days, affecting him a lot against Casper Ruud on Monday. Yesterday, the former world number 1 had interrupted his practice session after just ten minutes and the rumor had circulated that he could withdraw from the tournament leaving space for Grigor Dimitrov. However, his coach Juan Carlos Ferrero had told the Spanish press that Carlitos would do everything he could to be on court against Rublev.
Today we can say that Ferrero's words were true. The 4-time Grand Slam champion had a practice session of about 30 minutes with Andres Martin on Centre Court and seems intent on playing against Rublev in the first match of the fourth day.
Alcaraz will play against Rublev
The current world number 3 will not be able to be 100% fit, but he wants to fully honor the most important event on the ATP calendar, in which he has not had much luck up to this point of his career. The 21-year-old from Murcia had been unable to participate in 2022 due to an abdominal injury suffered during the Rolex Paris Masters, while last year he was eliminated by Novak Djokovic in the semifinals.
It will not be easy at all for Alcaraz to access the semifinals in this edition. The young Spaniard was not only defeated by Casper Ruud on his debut in Turin, but he did not win a single set unlike last year. The 4-time Grand Slam champion must necessarily defeat Rublev in order to stay in the race and must hope that Zverev beats Ruud in the night session.
As soon as he moves a little, its hard for him to breathe. His chest is a bit tight. Its a bad time to get sick, Ferrero said yesterday. We should not anticipate whether or not he will play. We have all played in these circumstances. I dont think hes going to be so bad that he wont be able to play. Its going to be difficult for him to be 100% (on Wednesday) he added.
The ATP Finals are not the last event of the season for Carlitos, who will be one of the protagonists of the Davis Cup Finals that will begin on November 19th in Malaga. If his health conditions do not improve, the former world number 1 could also decide to preserve his energies and focus on the Davis Cup.
Alcaraz faced Rublev twice on the professional tour. The Spanish champion won their first clash at the ATP Finals last year, while the Russian prevailed in their last match at the Mutua Madrid Open this season. It is worth mentioning that Carlos was not in top form in Madrid due to a forearm injury.
After his loss against Ruud on Monday, the Spaniard reflected on how tough the ATP calendar is: "I dare to say that every player is tired mentally. If someone says that he is fresh, he is lying. Some players deal with it better than others. I'm tired. I'm tired mentally. Obviously a lot of matches, really tight schedule, really demanding year with not too many days off, not too many period of you could rest, you could practice at home. It's kind of you finish one week or you finish a swing, you only have two or three days off and then you have to go to other tournaments to other part of the world.
Even in the second half of 2023, Alcaraz had struggled to play his best tennis. The 21-year-old from Murcia had not won a title since the Wimbledon Championships and had shown clear signs of fatigue. His level has been better this year since the summer, having won the title in Beijing by defeating Jannik Sinner in the final.
"Since the beginning of the year you're accumulating hours, days. You come into this part of year tired. As I said many, many times, I think this year I'm much better than last year, but I have to find the way to performance and deliver a good tennis being tired Alcaraz continued.
Well, I said so many times, the tennis schedule is so tight, but we have to get used to it, or I guess we have to. Yeah, yesterday we finished 8.30 pm, 9 pm, three-hours match, and then I had no time to do anything else. I just went to the club before the final with all the bags, because I knew that we had to run after the finals to take the flight to come here he concluded.
