Daniil Medvedev believes Carlos Alcaraz doesn’t have the same level of confidence as he did earlier in the season and is now playing slower.
The former world No.1 is in the same group as Alcaraz at this week’s Nitto ATP Finals in Turin. Both players got their campaigns underway on Monday with Alcaraz suffering a three-set loss against Alexander Zverev and Medvedev breezing his way past compatriot Andrey Rublev. Only the top two players in the group will progress to the knockout stage next weekend.
For Alcaraz, it is his third consecutive loss on the Tour after being beaten by Grigor Dimitrov in the third round of the China Open and then losing his opening match at the Paris Master to Roman Safiullin. During this period, he also pulled out of an event in Basel due to a left foot injury and muscle fatigue in his lower back.
“At this moment, for whatever reason, we feel that Carlos plays just a little bit slower,” Medvedev commented during his press conference.
“He doesn’t have the same confidence he had throughout the whole year. but this can happen to everyone. This even happened to Novak when he was younger. The question is, how fast is he going to recover?’
“When he lost the second set (to Zverev), they showed the speed of the strokes, groundstrokes. Sascha was like 10 kilometres higher than Carlos. This is very surprising.” He added.
Despite his recent lull in form, Alcaraz has enjoyed a successful 2023 season where he has won six Tour titles, including the Wimbledon Championships. He was also runner-up at events in Rio de Janeiro and Cincinnati.
The court speed at this week’s season-ending championships has been questioned by the Spanish 20-year-old who says it is faster than recent events on the Tour. Something he admits to having trouble with.
“This surface is the fastest of the year, that’s for sure,” Alcaraz commented. “I don’t know why they put this kind of surface at the end of the year because all the tournaments that we have played on hard court is so, so slow. Then we come here to the Masters and they put this court so fast.”
The ball travels faster in Turin due to its altitude. The city has an elevation of 784 feet (239 meters) above sea level.
“The conditions here are very fast,” Zverev said in agreement with Alcaraz.
Alcaraz, who is making his ATP Finals debut this year, will next take on Rublev on Wednesday. Meanwhile, Medvedev faces Zverev on the same day.
