Carlos Alcaraz reflects on Paris flop: the Murcian’s bitter admission

It was supposed to be the first chapter of another exciting run to the final of a major tournament (with Jannik Sinner on the other side of the scoreboard ready to renew the on-court rivalry), but instead it was a real flop that of Carlos Alcaraz, stranded at the first hurdle in the Paris Masters 1000. The Murcian champion tried to explain to reporters what went wrong in the match against Cameron Norrie.

“I wasn’t feeling well and I made too many mistakes – felt the Murcian, with a severe criticism of himself -. Of course I have to congratulate Norrie who played a great match, but already in the first set, although I won it, I felt I could do better. I tried to do something different in the second set but it all went wrong”.

“I repeat, Cameron played really well, he left me few break balls and in the decisive moment he prevented any attempt of mine to get back into the match– he then added Alcaraz -. However, I have to admit that I am very disappointed with what I did: now I just have to think about the Finals and the Davis Cup, I will work hard so that a day like today will not happen again”.

With the unexpected defeat in the second round, Carlos Alcaraz will lose 90 points in the ATP rankings, taking him to 11250 next Monday. That means if Jannik Sinner wins the tournament he would go to 11,500, regaining the top spot a few weeks after slipping to No. 2 in the aftermath of the US Open. The Paris Masters 1000 is still long, however, and it is not certain that it will not hold more surprises.