The often mild-mannered Carlos Alcaraz let his frustrations get the most effective of him throughout his straight-sets loss to Alexander Zverev within the ultimate group stage match of the ATP Finals on Thursday. The loss meant that the Spaniard crashed out of the year-ending match.
After dropping the primary set in a tiebreaker (7-5), Alcaraz was seen throwing his racket in anger earlier than uttering some phrases to his staff within the field. It was a uncommon second when the World No. 3 let his frustrations manifest on a tennis court docket.
It was exceptional that Alcaraz even pressured a tiebreaker within the first set, contemplating the uncharacteristic errors he made within the early goings. Issues received solely worse within the second set as Alcaraz dedicated 34 unforced errors for the match. It additionally did not assist that his opponent, Zverev, performed a virtually flawless match, finishing 55/70 of his first serves and successful 38 p.c of his return factors. Alcaraz received two alternatives to interrupt Zverev’s serve within the second set however got here up quick on each events.
Throughout his ATP Finals run in Turin, Alcaraz was dealing with an illness, which he overcame in his win over Andrey Rublev on Wednesday. Nonetheless, he refused to make use of his sickness as an excuse for the straight-sets loss to the World No. 2 German.
“It was a troublesome week for me, however it’s a privilege to be right here among the many eight finest gamers on the earth,” Alcaraz mentioned, via ATPTour.com. “I’ll study from what has occurred. I performed good tennis, however at present I confronted probably the greatest. I am disenchanted with the defeat. Certainly one of my targets is to achieve this a part of the 12 months feeling brisker. I used to be higher than final 12 months, however not adequate. I need to be as contemporary as potential mentally and revel in each considered one of my matches.”
Alcaraz will subsequent journey to Malaga to characterize Spain within the ultimate levels of the Davis Cup, which kicks off on Nov. 19. He’ll staff up along with his mentor, Rafael Nadal, in his swan song from the sport. Forward of Spain’s conflict with the Netherlands within the quarterfinals, Alcaraz mentioned he is decided to make sure Nadal will get a triumphant exit from tennis.
