The worst news was confirmed: Carlos Alcaraz (1st) suffered a tear in the abdominal area and, in this way, he owed a starting point to his season. That means, he will not be able to play the ATP finals nor the Davis Cup finals. And, in this sense, to finish at the top of the standings, he will have to wait for what will happen in the tournament that brings together the eight best of the year. It is that both Rafael Nadal (2nd) and Stefanos Tsitsipas (5th) could beat him in the last week of competition.
“Unfortunately I will not be able to be in the ATP Finals or Davis Cup Finals. EIt is a difficult and painful time to miss these two events that are so important to me, but all that remains is to be positive and think about recovering well. Thanks for the support! “, Wrote the Spaniard in a statement published on his social networks. The 19-year-old player he had had to retire from the quarter-final duel of the Paris-Bercy Masters 1000 vs. Holger Rune (18th) when he was playing the second set tiebreak.
Nadal or Tsitsipas, lurking
Although Alcaraz has all the numbers to finish the year at the top of the standings, there are three variants for one of his two rivals to overtake him. The hardest path will be for the Greek since then it must be consecrated in Turin (from 13 to 20 November) undefeated.
They will have to win all three group matches, the semifinals and, of course, the final. In this way he would add 1,500 points and remain with 6,850 points, just 30 more than the 6,820 of Juan Carlos Ferrero’s pupil.
Instead, there is the case of Nadal. Rafa, who is losing his debut in the Parisian tournament against Tommy Paul, has two options to snatch the top from his compatriot: reach the final after winning all three group stage matches or become champion with a balance of two wins and one defeat in the box.
The point against the 22-time Grand Slam champion is that he never managed to devote himself to this event. He failed in Shanghai or London and not in Turin.
Who will play the ATP Finals?
After Alcaraz’s retirement, the eight players who will take part in the Italian tournament will be: Nadal, Tsitsipas, Casper Ruud, Daniil Medvedev, Felix Auger Aliassime, Andrey Rublev, Novak Djokovic and Taylor Fritz. Hubert Hurkacz and Holger Rune will be the players who will alternatively travel in case a colleague of theirs gets injured or needs to be replaced.
Source: Clarin
