Alcaraz says he has lost “a lot of opportunities” in his quest for world No. 1 spot
The Spanish star hoped to get to the final in Shanghai to top the ATP rankings again, but Dimitrov was the better player.
Not many times Carlos Alcaraz is seen without a smile on his face, but the last hours are being hard for the Murcia native.
The two-time major champion had a big motivation after not being able to reach the US Open final, and that was to steal the ATP world No. 1 spot from Novak Djokovic before the end of the year.
Carlitos knew that by reaching the last round in Shanghai he would accomplish his goal. Things started to go his way when top players like Jannik Sinner or Daniil Medvedev were eliminated. However, he didn’t expect that a highly motivated Grigor Dimitrov would avenge his previous losses to him to come out on top.
Alcaraz admits that the No. 1 is further now
After losing in China to Sinner in a game full of explosive exchanges, Juan Carlos Ferrero’s player expected to bounce back from defeat and try to win the tournament in Shanghai. Things ended up playing out differently and now finishing the year as the world No. 1 is more difficult.
“If I want to be No. 1, I have a few tournaments ahead so I will try to do my best. I will try to win them if I want to have a chance to end the year as No. 1″, Alcaraz said when asked about his goal.
“I don’t know, but right now I have lost a lot of opportunities to make it”, he added.
Despite his loss to Dimitrov, Alcaraz is already looking forward to the next events in the tennis calendar and hopes to come back stronger.
“After this loss, I mean, it’s not too much time ago, so I have to think about it, but I will take a lot of lessons to improve in the practice before the tournaments that I have ahead”.
The 20-year-old talent will be 2,240 points behind the Serb next Monday when the rankings will be updated. But he will still enjoy his chances until the end of 2023, as Djokovic has far more points to defend till the end of this term.
Alcaraz will be back in action in Basel, Switzerland, a 500 ATP hard-court tournament that will be played indoors, starting on October 23.