Carlos Alcaraz has been one of the great protagonists of this season, which did not have the conclusion he would have liked. The young Spanish champion hoped to shine at the Nitto ATP Finals in Turin and the Davis Cup Finals in Malaga, but in both cases his run ended much earlier than expected.
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At the ATP Finals where he had reached the semifinals in 2023 he was eliminated already in the group stage having won only one match (against Andrey Rublev) and having suffered two defeats (against Casper Ruud and Sascha Zverev).
However, it is fair to point out that Carlitos had arrived in Turin with symptoms of a flu virus and was unable to play his best tennis. The world number 3 still has to improve a lot in indoor conditions, where his weapons seem less effective and his variations do not put his rivals in trouble as on other surfaces.
At the Davis Cup Finals the last event of Rafa Nadal's career Spain was eliminated by Netherlands in the quarterfinals and the run ended in front of its home fans. The 21-year-old from Murcia would have liked to give his illustrious compatriot one last trophy before retiring, but some wrong choices condemned the Spanish team to a shocking elimination.
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The Spanish ace's 2024 has been full of ups and downs as in previous seasons. The 4-time Grand Slam champion has reached truly exceptional peaks, especially between spring and summer, but has struggled to be consistent throughout the season. It is no coincidence that - although Alcaraz won Roland Garros and Wimbledon this year - his distance from Jannik Sinner in the ATP ranking amounts to almost 5000 points.
The 21-year-old from Murcia defeated his great Italian rival three times in as many official matches in 2024, but had too many drops in Masters 1000 tournaments (in which he only achieved 75% of wins). The elimination in the second round of the US Open made the difference, allowing even Sascha Zverev to get closer in the ranking and overtake Carlos in the last tournaments of the season.
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ATP 2024 Awards nominations revealed
Meanwhile, ATP has announced the famous end-of-season awards. The current world number 3 has been selected as one of the nominees for the 'Stefan Edberg Sportsmanship Award', an award he had already won in 2023.
The former world number 1 is resting in this period, waiting to start preparing for next season. Carlitos will play an exhibition match with Ben Shelton at Madison Square Garden in New York in December, while he is not expected to participate in official tournaments before the Australian Open.
In an interview with Tennis Majors, top coach Patrick Mouratoglou analyzed Alcaraz's season highlighting the differences between him and Sinner: So far I see Alcaraz mostly beating him because Alcaraz can create more. He has this extra power and he can fight with him in terms of movement also.
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The thing is, Alcaraz is making quite a lot of unforced errors where Sinner doesnt. So the matches between them there are a lot of ups and downs and it changes often.
You know, the one is leading, then the other one takes over because when Alcaraz plays at his best I think he is able to be better than Sinner.
He continued: But he cannot play like this the whole match so Sinner is always stable. Thats why the matches are so close every time.
Sinner can hit a winner on every single shot. Thats the feeling and it is quite disturbing. You can never relax, you cannot build because you are always in danger, always on every shot.
But what I think the most important thing is not that you are in danger on every shot, which is the case, it is that he does it with consistency. Everything is controlled. He has this level of aggressiveness with the control at the same time and that is what makes him so special.
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Alcarazwill play at Queen's
A few days ago, it was announced that Alcaraz will participate in the prestigious Queen's ATP 500 again next year. The young Spaniard has already won at Queen's in 2023, defeating Alex de Minaur in the final and clinching his first title on grass. Carlos tried to defend his title in 2024 but - still tired after winning the French Open - he was eliminated by a great Jack Draper.
The 4-time Grand Slam champion considers Queen's a very important tournament before the Wimbledon Championships, where he has triumphed in the last two editions. If he were to win at Church Road for the third time in a row, the Spaniard would go down even more in tennis history.
