Carlos Alcaraz answered which events he plans to compete in between now and the end of the season after his loss at the 2024 Shanghai Masters.
It has been hectic for Alcaraz over the last few months. The 21-year-old, who believes the schedule is too long, may be slightly relieved when he reaches the off-season, giving him a small window to rest before preparing for 2025.
Alcaraz looked burnt out during the North American hardcourt swing. He arrived for that part of the season after losing the gold medal match at the Olympics to Novak Djokovic, which still looked to be affecting him.
The four-time Grand Slam champion lost to Gael Monfils in the round of 32 at the Cincinnati Open before suffering an even more surprising defeat at the US Open to Botic van de Zandschulp in the second round.
Although that setback was disappointing, the only positive is that it gave Alcaraz a chance to rest and recuperate mentally and physically after a busy few months that included winning his French Open and Wimbledon titles.
Alcaraz has been closer to his best since. He helped Spain qualify for the Davis Cup Finals, which proved pivotal because the last tournament of Rafael Nadal's legendary career will be at the Finals in November before he retires.
After helping Team Europe win their first Laver Cup title in three years, Alcaraz outlasted Jannik Sinner in a brutal and epic three-set battle to win the China Open. It was his third consecutive victory against the world No. 1.
The Spaniard's hopes of winning back-to-back titles were ended by an inspired Tomas Machac in the Shanghai Masters quarterfinal. Alcaraz did not perform particularly badly in the match, but Machac played incredibly to triumph.
After losing to Machac, Alcaraz was asked about his planned schedule for the rest of the year. The two-time Wimbledon winner stated that he would play at four events, one of which was an upcoming exhibition in Saudi Arabia.
"Well, right now I'm going to play the exhibition in Saudi Arabia. I'm going to go there, I'm going to try and play good tennis, and forget today I lose. Yeah, then the Masters 1000 in Paris, the ATP Finals, and the Davis Cup, that's my plan right now."
"I have to be really, really focused on the next tournaments. I really want to go farther and get a good result to get as much points as I can, you know, to be closer to Jannik, but, yeah, my plan is those tournaments."
The exhibition that Alcaraz referred to in Saudi Arabia is the Six Kings Slam. That will be played from October 16th to the 19th, and Alcaraz, Sinner, Djokovic, Daniil Medvedev, Holger Rune, and Nadal are the confirmed players.
The other three tournaments that he will play are the Paris Masters, the ATP Finals in Turin, and the Davis Cup Finals in Malaga.
Alcaraz's confirmed schedule means Sinner will end 2024 as the No. 1. He could only have mathematically caught up to the Italian if he played every week until the end of the season, but unsurprisingly, the Spaniard feels that would take too much of a physical toll on him.
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