Alcaraz disappeared again in Paris. He once again leaves the Masters 1000 in the French capital upset. Defeated by Ugo Humbert, a local tennis player who confused the Murcian in the first set and withstood Carlos’ reaction in the final to strike with determination in the final stretch.
Alcaraz could not find a solution to the problems posed by Humbert in the form of cannon fire. The Murcian finished the first set with only one game won, 15 unforced errors and only four winners. All this in just over 20 minutes. It happened very quickly, like on the Parisian track, another rival of Alcaraz.
She is the fastest on the entire circuit and took the Murcian on the wrong foot. “I don’t want to say anything that sounds like an excuse. Ugo deserves the win, but, for example, Davis’ inside track was slower than this one. When I played the first match here, the statistic came out that it was the fastest court on the circuit in Masters 1000. It’s crazy! “I don’t know why they did that,” Alcaraz shouted.
The blow could resound even louder if Zverev, who, like the Frenchman, passed the round, reaches the final of the tournament, since he would take second place in the ranking from the Spaniard. A change of position whose consequence would be reflected in the ATP Finals in Turin where the eight best rackets on the circuit will meet.
Sinner will arrive as number one and will be paired on bass drum with number two, whose name is still to be determined. If Zverev reaches the final, he would surpass Alcaraz who would arrive in Turin in third place in the rankings. Which could lead to sharing a group with Sinner and Djokovic and complications in obtaining one of the first two places in the group giving access to the semi-finals of the ATP Finals.
Results obtained in the context of the end of the season, a sequence in which Alcaraz bled again, just like the previous year. Precisely, the cataclysm of last season gave Carlos the opportunity to collect a good handful of points in the last months. You practically did not defend the spoils, since in 2023 he lost in the round of 16 in Shanghai and in the first round in Paris.
Likewise, the assault on the throne is also complicated for the first quarter of next year. The Australian Open appeared as a great opportunity for the assault, since Sinner will not be able to score points and Alcaraz will defend the quarterfinals of 2024. But for this he had to arrive with the shortest distance possible and, after the results in Shanghai and Paris, Alcaraz found himself facing reality. The objective of fighting Sinner is further away.
