Carlos Alcaraz has insisted that he is not under any additional pressure to perform well on the Tour after recently losing his No.2 spot.
The 20-year-old is currently ranked third in the PIF ATP rankings after falling behind Jannik Sinner, who secured his debut in the world’s top two by winning the Miami Open. It is the lowest position Alcaraz has found himself in since August 2022, which was before he won his first major title at the US Open.
“Being No. 1 or No. 2 is great, but just one position down does not change too much,” Alcaraz told reporters on Saturday ahead of the Monte Carlo Masters. “I know the players in front of me deserve this position so I have to work to recover this. I don’t play with different pressure being No. 2 or No. 3.”
So far this season, the Spaniard has won 15 out of 19 matches played on the Tour with his best result occurring in Indian Wells where he won his 13th ATP title. He also reached the quarter-finals of both the Australian Open and Buenos Aires Open, as well as the semi-finals in Miami.
Now heading into the European clay swing, Alcaraz hopes to achieve a similar amount of success to previous years. According to the ATP, he registered the most Tour-level wins on the surface in 2022 (27) and 2023 (23).
“I had a few days off after Miami and started playing on clay a little bit,” he said. “I don’t take too many days to play at my best on the surface, so the practise I have done on clay was very good, so hopefully I start the tournament in a good way.”
Alcaraz will be the third seed at the Monte Carlo Open after Sinner and Novak Djokovic. It will be only his second appearance at the Masters 1000 event and he has yet to win a match there. Last year he withdrew from the draw due to injury.
“I am really happy to be here in Monte-Carlo,” Alcaraz said. “It is a really beautiful tournament. I watched this tournament many times since I was a little kid. I just played once. It didn’t go well in 2022 but I am really excited to start the tournament here and see how it is going to be. I am really happy about it. Hopefully I do a good run here, make the final rounds. This tournament is tough. Many difficult players.”
Granted a bye in the first round, Alcaraz will begin his campaign against either Felix Aiger-Aliassime or a qualifier/lucky loser. If he wins the tournament, he will become the fifth Spanish player to do so since the event became a Masters 1000 in 1990.
