{"id":346354,"date":"2023-11-14T00:58:15","date_gmt":"2023-11-14T01:58:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=346354"},"modified":"2023-11-14T03:02:12","modified_gmt":"2023-11-14T03:02:12","slug":"alcaraz-bemoans-very-fast-court-in-atp-finals-loss","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=346354","title":{"rendered":"Alcaraz bemoans 'very fast' court in ATP Finals loss"},"content":{"rendered":"

Considering all that he\u2019s accomplished over the last two years \u2014 two grand slam titles and finishing last season as No.1 \u2014 Carlos Alcaraz<\/a> no doubt belongs among the world\u2019s elite.<\/p>\n

Still, this wouldn\u2019t have been the ATP<\/a> Finals debut the 20-year-old Spaniard was hoping for at the season-ending event for the year\u2019s top eight players.<\/p>\n

After missing the finals last year because of an abdominal injury, Alcaraz was beaten in his opening match on Tuesday by two-time champion Alexander Zverev<\/a> 6-7(3), 6-3, 6-4 as he struggled with the speed of play.<\/p>\n

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\"Carlos<\/p>\n

Zverev also missed last year\u2019s edition after tearing ligaments in his right ankle in the French Open semi finals.<\/p>\n

But the big-serving German clearly likes the fast conditions inside the Pala Alpitour, where he claimed the title two years ago, unlike Alcaraz who had trouble adjusting to the court's speed.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis surface is the fastest of the year, that\u2019s for sure,\u201d Alcaraz said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t 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 are so, so slow. Then we come here to the [year-end championship] and the courts are so fast.\u201d<\/p>\n

Zverev suggested a little bit of altitude is a factor, with Turin at an elevation of 239m.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut generally speaking, the conditions here are very fast,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Zverev served 16 aces to Alcaraz\u2019s 11, saved five of six break points and never allowed Alcaraz to feel in control.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had a few break points that I couldn\u2019t take, and I think that was the key to the match,\u201d Alcaraz said afterwards.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/twitter.com\/carlosalcaraz\/status\/1724135486074011930?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw<\/a><\/p>\n

Zverev added: "I served very well. That helped."<\/p>\n

The 26-year-old Zverev overcame a scare late in the third set when he skidded on the court while chasing down a forehand and fell, clutching his left ankle in discomfort. But he quickly shook it off and held in that game to take a 4-2 lead.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn't twist my ankle, I just kind of slipped and kind of pinched my Achilles, my capsule a little bit," Zverev said.<\/p>\n

"Hopefully it\u2019s nothing too major and I can continue playing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Alexander<\/p>\n

The seventh seed faced a break point while serving for the match and responded with an ace down the middle. Two points later, the match was over.<\/p>\n

Zverev has also faced off-court issues recently after a German court issued a penalty order against him following allegations he caused bodily harm to a woman.<\/p>\n

He has disputed the allegations and is contesting the penalty order.<\/p>\n

Alcaraz can still advance from the round-robin, with the top two finishers in each four-man group reaching the semi finals.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Considering all that he\u2019s accomplished over the last two years \u2014 two grand slam titles and finishing last season as No.1 \u2014 Carlos Alcaraz no […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":346356,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/346354"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=346354"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/346354\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":346359,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/346354\/revisions\/346359"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/346356"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=346354"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=346354"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=346354"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}