Turin (dpa) – The Spanish tennis star Carlos Alcaraz experienced a nasty surprise at the start of the ATP Finals. The Wimbledon and French Open champion lost his first group game against Norwegian Casper Ruud in Turin after a disappointing start and a drop in performance in the second set 1:6, 5:7. This puts the Spaniard under pressure in the group with world number two Alexander Zverev and has to worry about his participation in the semi-finals of the season finale.
The world number three then revealed that he had become ill shortly before traveling to Turin. He felt “okay” on training days, but had problems with his stomach on match day. “After the long rallies today, I didn’t feel comfortable,” said the Spaniard. It shouldn’t sound like an excuse. «But when I feel bad, I feel bad. That was the case today.” He also admitted that he was mentally tired at the end of the season.
Alcaraz, who unexpectedly failed in the round of 16 at the Masters 1000 event in Paris, made too many easy mistakes. He initially got into the game better in the second set and was already leading 5-2 thanks to an increase in performance. But instead of securing the equalizer of the set, the 21-year-old suffered another weak phase and gave up his serve game to make it 5:4. Alcaraz hardly managed anything and after 1:25 hours the opening defeat was sealed. For the first time, the Spaniard lost to the world number seven in the fifth match.
