Carlos Alcaraz Reveals 3 Important Reasons for His Loss in the ATP Finals

Casper Ruud defeated Carlos Alcaraz decisively in the first round of the ATP Finals on Monday morning: 6-1, 7-5. This was not the result or level of play that fans expected from Alcaraz.

After losing the first set of the Group Stage, the world No. 1 is not only on the rebound, but is also in the midst of an uncharacteristic collapse. Alcaraz was eliminated early from the Shanghai Masters and Paris Masters before suffering an early defeat at the ATP Finals today.

As always, the 21-year-old takes defeat with composure. He says and does the right things and praises his opponent’s play. But he offered some reasons (not excuses) for his poor play: illness, fatigue and closed courts.

While talking to the media, Alcaraz confirmed What everyone saw when he lost against Ruud. He was very sick and was not playing at his full strength.

“A few days before I came here, I got sick at home. And yes, on the days when I was training here, I felt good. Not very good, but okay. I could play. I could feel that I could recover. I participated in rallies during training,” Alcaraz said.

He continued: “In matches it’s completely different. But today I wasn’t feeling well. This morning I had an upset stomach. After long rallies today I didn’t feel very well. You know, I want to say it because I don’t want to sound like an excuse, but if I feel bad, that’s what happened today .”

Of course, at this point in the season every player is running out of energy. Especially the top-ranked players because they have played the most matches and attended the most media events. Alcaraz agreed. Every player is mentally exhausted now.

“Some players cope with it better than others. I’m tired. I’m mentally tired. Obviously there’s a lot of games, a really tight schedule, a really tough year, not a lot of days off, not a lot of periods where you can rest and practice at home.”

It’s like when you finish a week or finish an inning, you only have two or three days and then you have to go to other tournaments somewhere else in the world,” Alcaraz said.

He concluded: “You have been accumulating hours, days since the beginning of the year. You come to this part of the year tired. As I have said many times, I think I am much better this year than last year, but I have to find the way to performance and be mentally tired and put on good tennis.” .”

When asked why he competes on indoor courts, Alcaraz said“I don’t have experience playing on indoor courts. I can train a lot on indoor courts, but I don’t have a match on my back on indoor courts. So I don’t know. I need to get better at this part the year we play on indoor courts.”

“I don’t know. I’m sure I’ll be a very good player on indoor courts. But I think it’s time to gain experience, put the matches behind me, and bat on indoor courts.” I don’t think I’m a bad indoor player. I will say that probably a lot of players are better indoors than me. to this question.”

Even though Alcaraz was defeated, he is not out of the tournament. He will face the winner of number two Alexander Zverev and number eight Andrey Rublev on Wednesday, November 13.

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