Carlos Alcaraz has criticised the court conditions in the French capital after the Spaniard’s third round exit to Ugo Humbert.
The world number two’s poor record at Paris-Bercy continued as he lost 6-1 3-6 7-5 to the Frenchman.
In one of the best matches of the season, Alcaraz could only convert one of four break point opportunities as he suffered a blow ahead of the ATP Finals in Turin.
The result means Alcaraz has yet to reach a semi-final at Paris-Bercy with the event set to move venue next year.
Speaking after the match Alcaraz admitted he should have travelled earlier as he praised Humbert, “I mean, it is very difficult to play in these conditions,” Alcaraz was quoted by tennis365.com.
“For me, for my level, I try to change up as much as I can to this court, to this speed. I thought that it suits pretty well to my game, but it doesn’t. When I play against someone like Ugo that he doesn’t let you get rhythm into the match, he plays probably, every time at his 100%, really flat. So I couldn’t play good tennis.
“I practice at home but it isn’t the same court that I thought. So I didn’t surprise about my level, about my game, but I was surprised about everything a little bit.”
Hinting at it in his answer, the court has gained a lot of attention this week as it is the fastest court on the circuit this year.
In fact it’s the fastest the Paris-Bercy court has been in the last decade and that is something Alcaraz has criticised labelling it as ‘crazy,’ “This court… I mean, I don’t want to say something that there is going to sound like an excuse,” Alcaraz stated after the match.
“First of all, Ugo deserves to win, that’s obvious, but it depends. Because I play, for example, the Davis Cup indoor court and the court was way slower than this one. When I played the first match, the stats came out that it is the fastest court in the Masters 1000, probably on the tour right now.
“This is crazy. I don’t know. Probably and the fastest one, you know, in the last ten years in this tournament. So I don’t know why they do it. I don’t know why they have changed a court from other tournaments and obviously in the same tournament, comparing to other years.
“It surprised me a little bit, so I came here with not too many days. Probably I had to come earlier to get used to these conditions but I didn’t. But, honestly, all I can say is I don’t understand why they did it.”
Alcaraz will hope to recover from this setback as he competes at the Nitto ATP Finals in Turin which starts on the 10th of November.
