Carlos Alcaraz confessed that he had a new issue with his game after crashing out of the Shanghai Masters on Wednesday. The Spaniard has been vocal about his hopes of fighting to get the world No 1 ranking back from Novak Djokovic but “lost a lot of opportunities” with his defeats during the Asian swing. Alcaraz is now hoping to fix his problems before heading to Basel – his last tournament without Djokovic in the draw before the 36-year-old makes his return.
Alcaraz crashed out of Shanghai in the round of 16 as an inspired Grigor Dimitrov came from a set down to stun the top seed 5-7 6-2 6-4. It marked his earliest defeat since the Rome Masters in May. And it was another disappointing result for the 20-year-old in his first-ever Asian swing after his loss to Jannik Sinner in last week’s China Open semi-final.
With Djokovic skipping the Asian swing to take a short break, the world No 2 had a chance to make up some vital ranking points in an effort to reclaim the top spot by the end of the year. But Alcaraz confessed that he lost a lot of opportunities with his early exits as he pinpointed a worrying problem that arose after he won the first set against Dimitrov.
Asked what he had to work on in his game, Alcaraz said: “Start better the second set. I think that’s a point that it’s tough for me.” The Spaniard was 3-5 down in the opening set but stormed back to win four games in a row to take it.
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But he couldn’t keep that intensity up after pulling off an escape. The 12-time title winner continued: “You know, after the first set, when I win the first set, more or less, it’s tough for me to keep the focus at the beginning of the second set. I’ll work on a few mistakes that, in certain moments, that I, you know, I have to put it in, and I didn’t. Those are the points that I have to work on.”
Alcaraz still has his eye on the prize when it comes to his quest to return to No 1 but he knew it would be hard after losing early in Shanghai. “Well, this loss I needed to be a little bit farther. It’s going to be tougher, if I want to be No 1. I have a few tournaments ahead, so I’ll try to do my best. I’ll try to, you know, win them, if I want to have a chance to end the year as No 1. I don’t know, but right now I lose a lot of opportunities to make it,” he added.
