After suffering a shocking early round loss at the 2023 Paris Masters, Carlos Alcaraz believes he no longer has a shot at finishing the year as the World No.1 player.
The Spaniard was stunned by Roman Safiullin in their opening round encounter at the Paris Masters, with the Russian playing some incredible tennis to secure a 6-3 6-4 victory.
Alcaraz dejected after exit, claims to have lost opportunity to finish as No.1
The 20-year old's exit saw his title drought extend, as he has failed to win a title since capturing the Wimbledon trophy in July. Following his loss to Safiullin, Alcaraz revealed he did not believe he could catch up to World No.1 Novak Djokovic, who currently leads the Spaniard by 2,420 ATP ranking points.
"After this defeat I have no chance, all the ones I had to finish No. 1 at the end of the year are gone," admitted Alcaraz. "We're not going to think that, I think there are zero chances.
"Losing in the early rounds of tournaments that you hope to make it to the final rounds or that you push yourself hurts. Today is one of the few times I don't want to think about the next few days, about training. But it has to be done, there's one tournament left. But these defeats hurt a lot."
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Congratulations on the victory Roman! 🤝🏻 I am saying goodbye to Paris much sooner than I wanted 🥲 Now it is time to prepare my game for the ATP Finals in Turin!
📸 @atptour