Carlos Alcaraz: “I leave hurt by the opportunities I have had” | ATP Tour

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Alcaraz: “I leave hurt by the opportunities I have had”

The Spaniard said goodbye to Paris before Humbert

October 31, 2024

Carlos Alcaraz said goodbye to the last ATP Masters 1000 of the season this Thursday after losing to Ugo Humbert, who had never beaten him before (2-0 in the Lexus ATP Head2Head). Thus, the Frenchman advanced before the eyes of his audience at the Rolex Paris Masters and said goodbye to the No. 2 in the PIF ATP Rankings.

“The truth is that it was a complicated game,” Alcaraz started. “I have started a little with doubts in my game. In the end, playing against Ugo is not easy. He is a rival who always goes on the attack, who at the slightest hits very aggressively and even more so on this court where the ball slides much more,” he continued. “And it doesn’t allow you to be comfortable. I didn’t have a good backhand, I made several mistakes on the first balls. All of that has made it difficult for me to get into the game, plus he hasn’t made any mistakes,” he added.

“In the second set he made more mistakes,” the Spaniard continued. “It has left me some window to be able to get into the game, get more sensations and for everything to be better. It has been very intense. Against Ugo I know that I have to run what is not written. And that’s what I tried to do today: run and score more balls than him, but in the end he played a game that I couldn’t match.”

Thus, the young champion of four Grand Slam titles explained that the basis of the defeat was in his game, but not in his head.

“It has been pure tennis,” explained Alcaraz. “I’ve been pretty good. In the end, after losing 6-1 in the way I lost, with 0 sensations… To see that I have not entered the game at any time and more or less continue there strong and try to take the sensations and opportunities that Ugo “He hit me in the second set,” he added. “And little by little get better. At no point have I collapsed, I have always fought from the beginning to the end and in the end it has been due to details. I think that, for example, at 5-5 in the third, he played a game that gave me 3 points “, the drop shot I made, the passing and then a winning forehand that can only be applauded,” he acknowledged. “Then in the last game perhaps some mistakes that were not appropriate, but hey, in the end this is tennis, we are not robots and the truth is that it was a purely tennis defeat.”/p>

After losing in Paris, Alcaraz has already set his sights on Turin, where he will play the Nitto ATP Finals.

“I am leaving upset by the defeat,” he said. “In the end you never want to say goodbye to tournaments suddenly, you always want to make it to the final rounds. And in the end it was also a very close match: 7-5 in the third… I am hurt by the opportunities I had, I think I could have done a little more. In the end you have to think about the following, you have to think that this has happened, prepare the [Nitto ATP] Finals in the best possible way. Try to learn from these matches and the truth is that the good thing about tennis is that the following week you have opportunities, so let’s go for the next tournament.”