Carlos Alcaraz seemed really close to announcing his withdrawal from the 2024 Nitto ATP Finals, after a flu virus had affected him a lot during his first match against Casper Ruud in Turin. The former world No. 1 was defeated by the Norwegian ace in straight sets on Day 2, canceled his practice session the next day and his coach Juan Carlos Ferrero expressed concern about his condition.
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The Spanish champion did not want to withdraw from such an important event and played a very good match against Russian ace Andrey Rublev yesterday, although he is not yet at his best. The 21-year-old from Murcia prevailed in straight sets and increased his chances of qualifying for the semi-finals, which will be played on Saturday.
The 4-time Grand Slam champion used his serve much more effectively than in his debut against Ruud and made far fewer unforced errors, choosing very well when to use his excellent drop shot. The current world number 3 launched a shout towards his box at the end of the world, to make it clear that he is intent on achieving a huge result in the last event of the ATP calendar. Carlitos will face Alexander Zverev on the last day of the group stage.
The former world number 1 will have to raise his level even further against Zverev, who is playing very well on this surface and who won his first two matches without losing a single set (against Rublev and Ruud). The German ace - who won in Turin in 2021 - is not yet mathematically certain of entering the semifinals, but it will be enough for him to win a set against Alcaraz on Friday.
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Alcaraz doesn'tgive up
Through his official X profile, top journalist Jos Moron illustrated all the possible combinations of the 'John Newcombe group'.
The ATP Finals organizers have already published the order of play for Day 6: Alcaraz and Zverev will face each other in the day session, while Ruud and Rublev will clash in the night session.
After his win over Rublev in Turin, the Spaniard was very happy with his performance: I feel like in the last matches I couldnt hit good drop shots, and I was thinking, Whats going on? My style, my game, its about playing these kinds of shots and enjoying the game. So I tried to do it today. I felt pretty good from the baseline too, running. I had many options on my mind. If I move well, run well from the baseline, I have more options. Im really happy that Option A of just running and playing good points from the baseline, I made it happen.
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The 4-time Grand Slam champion had a more positive attitude than in the first match and improved his level as the minutes went by. Carlitos also used a nasal strip to breathe better during the match.
"Yeah, I know Jarry wear that thing in the nose. For me, it helped a lot today. I could breathe much better. It is something that I'm going to wear more often, I don't know," Alcaraz said during the press conference. "Right now in the situation that I'm right now, it help a lot. I'm pretty sure that in the next match I'm going to wear it. Tomorrow's practice I'm going to wear it, for sure. I felt better. I could recover better between points. The thing that I sniffed in the changeover, it is for that. It is just to breathe a little bit better. The things between points that I'm doing like that is because of it. It help me a lot to recover and to breathe better he concluded.
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Zverev is on fire
Analyzing the matches played by Carlos and Sascha in Turin so far, the feeling is that the German is favored tomorrow. Zverev won the title here three years ago and he has a more effective game than Alcaraz's on this surface. The Spanish ace needs more time to play his best tennis in indoor conditions and will still not be at his best tomorrow.
Zverev has already defeated Alcaraz this year in the quarterfinals of the Australian Open, showing that he has the right weapons to be able to defeat the young Spaniard. The world number 2 is having a very good period and has gained great confidence, thanks to his triumph at the Rolex Paris Masters.Carlitos - on the other hand - has not found the right solutions on such rapid pitches and admitted that he has to work on this aspect. At the same time, the 21-year-old from Murcia tends to get excited when facing top players.
