A Carlos Alcaraz at his worst after his return to the courts at the US Open, nervous and foul, was eliminated by the Belgian Zizou Bergs in the round of 32 of the Masters 1000 in Shanghai, where he was considered the favourite. A result which, in addition to being rather surprising and casting doubt on the level of form regained by the Spaniard, also has an important and somewhat historic implication, because it ensures that Alexander Zverev will become number 1 in the world rankings at the end of the year. An outcome that was certain after Jannik Sinner’s forced stop from Wimbledon onwards, but which is now mathematical. «It has been a fantastic season for me – declared Zverev from Shanghai, where tomorrow he will play the round of 16 against Kazakh Bublik, as soon as he heard the news -: I won in Paris and New York and knowing that I will end the year on top is a dream come true. I dedicated a lot of effort to this goal, especially after the ankle injury». The German, the ATP reveals, is the oldest to become No.1 for the first time, given that at the publication of the end-of-year ranking (November 23) he will be 29 years and 217 days, three older than Andre Agassi was in 1999 (29 years and 214 days) and twenty older than Andy Murray in 2016 (29 years and 197 days). Furthermore, it is the first time that a player knows he will be king at the end of the year without ever having been king.
The assist given to Zverev is the last thing on Alcaraz’s mind after today’s knockout, an unexpected stumble after the victory in the Tokyo tournament and against an opponent who only once in his career had managed to get the better of a top 5 player in the rankings. Instead, perfect at serving and annoying with his game, Bergs surprised him and made him nervous, breaking his serve twice in the first set, won 7-5, and prevailing in the tie break in the second. Alcaraz made a lot of mistakes, too much for his average, and soon began to heat up, losing clarity. After suffering the Belgian’s second break, he vented to his team, complaining about not being able to “play instinctively”, also due, in his opinion, to the surface and also the balls. “It doesn’t make sense for a ball to bounce and the next one to slide away – he continued cursing -, I can’t… I can’t play like this”, trying to explain the reasons for the many mistakes made. The coach, Samuel Lopez, tried to calm him down and then at the end of the set he invited him to «play with joy. If you have to make a mistake, make it a good mistake, be brave. Come on, come on; we can turn the situation around.” Nothing to do. Now the first appointment for Alcaraz will be the ‘Six Kings Slam’ performance in Riyadh, assuming it takes place given the difficult situation in Saudi Arabia. Meanwhile, again in China, Jasmine Paolini made her debut with a victory in the WTA 1000 tournament in Wuhan. Having fallen to position number 33 in the WTA in recent weeks, the Italian beat the Czech Sara Beljek 6-3 6-4. «I hope to be able to play even better in this tournament, where in the past I have shown my best tennis: let’s see where I can go», commented Paolini.