Carlos Alcaraz fell to Alexander Zverev in his first clash of the 2023 ATP Finals, his third defeat on the trot. There is now a real possibility of him conceding the World No.2 ranking to Daniil Medvedev. The Spaniard was unhappy with the courts in Turin, complaining about the speed. He also admitted that he wants to learn from Novak Djokovic, who does not hand points over easily.
After a string of underwhelming performances, Alcaraz entered the ATP Finals hoping to break the rut. However, he was bested by Zverev in three sets. He won the first set after a tie-break, but his German opponent dominated the next two to win 7-6(3), 6-3, 6-4. Alcaraz complained about the speed of the courts after the match. He could not fathom why the ATP chose the extremely fast surface in Turin despite having played on much slower hard courts all year.
Alcaraz, though, refused to fully blame the courts, accepting he should have displayed more consistency (via the Nitto ATP Finals website). He recollected mishitting a few shots and losing the points right away, saying he needs to avoid such mistakes.
“Even though the court is very fast, I need to be more consistent. At the end of the second set and the start of the third, I hit three or four shots out straight away. That can’t happen, although everyone has their own style.”
He used Djokovic as an example, saying the Serb does not hand over points on a platter. Alcaraz rued not being consistent enough during his loss to Zverev.
“I watch Novak, for example, and he doesn’t give anything away straight away. My consistency was really lacking against Zverev.”
Alcaraz next faces Andrey Rublev, who is in a good run of form. His biggest test in the Red group, however, is yet to come. Medvedev awaits him in their last round-robin fixture.
Carlos Alcaraz needs to pull up his socks to save World No.2 rank from Daniil Medvedev
Unlike Alcaraz, Medvedev got his campaign off to winning start. He downed close friend and compatriot Rublev and will next face Zverev. The 2020 ATP Finals winner has an opportunity to usurp Alcaraz and finish the year as World No.1.
The latter’s poor recent performances have narrowed the gap between their ATP points tallies, opening the door for Medvedev to overtake the Spaniard. After losing out on the Year-End No.1 spot to Djokovic, Alcaraz is now embroiled in a race to save his No.2 rank.
It will not be an easy task for Medvedev, though. He will have to repeat his feat from 2020 and also pray for other results to go his way. Only if Alcaraz crashes out in the round-robin stage does the Russian stand a chance to get past him. If the two-time Grand Slam winner wins his remaining two group stage clashes, Medvedev will not have a shot at second place on the ATP Rankings.
Even if Alcaraz crashes out of the group stage with less than two wins, Medvedev still has to work hard to become World No.2. He will have to lift the title to cross the 20-year-old’s points tally and go second. Medvedev undoubtedly has the talent and pedigree to clinch his second ATP Finals trophy this year, so Alcaraz will not prefer leaving anything to chance. He needs to find his groove and try his best to make it to the semi-finals, or even beyond.
