“Would Have Been Very Surprised if Sascha Had Beaten Carlos Alcaraz”: Daniil Medvedev Cites Novak Djokovic to Back Spaniard

Daniil Medvedev cruised through to a win in his first match at the ATP Masters 2023. The Russian beat his good friend Andrey Rublev in straight sets to get off the mark. However, there was a surprise result in his group. German Alexander Zverev defeated the world number 2, Carlos Alcaraz in their opening match.

Alexander Zverev defeated Carlos Alcaraz in his ATP Finals debut, coming back from a set down to win 6-7 (3-7) 6-3 6-4. This was Alcaraz’s third consecutive defeat, his longest losing streak since 2021. The Spaniard clinched the first set against the German but Zverev quickly asserted his dominance in the second set. Alcaraz now faces a tough task in the next two games, knowing a defeat would end his hopes of a semi-final.

Medvedev was asked about this result but the Russian admitted he was not surprised. The Russian was analyzing Alcaraz’s recent slump in form after the Spaniard registered his third straight defeat. Medvedev said that he would have been surprised if Zverev had beaten Alcaraz a few months ago, but not so much now.

“If you would ask me two or three months ago, for sure (I would be surprised). Now? You know, tennis is a very, very tricky sport. The question is, how fast is he going to recover? Is it going to be in this tournament or next year?”

Daniil Medvedev admitted that he feels Alcaraz is struggling in current form but added that every player goes through it. The Russian further said that Spaniard is lacking in confidence and appears slower on the court. He said that even Novak Djokovic had gone through poor run of form and Alcaraz will recover from it too.

“At this moment, for whatever reason, we feel that Carlos plays just a little bit slower. He does not have the same confidence he had throughout the whole year. This even happened to Novak when he was younger.”

Carlos Alcaraz going through a tough second half of the 2023 season

Carlos Alcaraz has hit a slump on form since July 2023. The Spaniard was on top of the world after his Wimbledon win as he reached the number 1 ranking in the world. This was the 20 year-old’s second Grand Slam title and his first final win against Novak Djokovic. However, Alcaraz has had poor results since.

Alcaraz lost to Grigor Dimitrov at the Shanghai Masters and suffered a shock defeat to Roman Safiullin in the opening round of the Paris Masters. Now, the Spaniard faces an uphill task to qualify for the semi-finals, as he will need to defeat both Rublev and Medvedev in his final two group games.