Carlos Alcaraz didn't shy away from expressing his disapproval of the court change at the Paris Masters after his early exit.
The young Spaniard never excelled in the French capital, but that applies only to the hard courts in Bercy. At Roland Garros, he won a Grand Slam title and played in the final of the Olympic Games.
At the Paris Masters, on the other hand, he never made it past the quarter-finals, and he kept that record at the last ATP Masters 1000 tournament of the season also this year, losing to Ugo Humbert in three sets.
After the match, the World No. 2 player didn't talk so much about his performance, but more about the court in Paris. Already during the week, Alcaraz said that he was surprised by the speed of the court, which he called very slippery.
By measurements, the Paris Masters court is the fastest hard court out of all Masters tournaments at the moment. When asked about his performance after the match, Alcaraz couldn't help but bring out the court speed, as he couldn't adjust to it.
"It is very difficult to play in these conditions. 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."
Of course, like a good role model, Alcaraz didn't forget to praise his opponent's qualities, as Humbert played one of his best matches this year to stun the 21-year-old Spaniard.
"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."
Alcaraz also revealed that he tried to imitate the court conditions when practicing at home in Spain, but when he came to Paris, he realized the conditions were completely different.
"I practiced at home, but it isn't the same court that I thought that the speed to this court is going to play the ball. But for me, it doesn't. So I wasn't surprised about my level, about my game, but I was surprised about everything a little bit."
The four-time Grand Slam champion was then asked why he thought he struggled with indoor hard courts, to which he answered that he didn't have a problem with those, only the one in Paris, while again praising his opponent.
"Well, not indoor courts. This court. I mean, I don't want to say something that there is going to sound like an excuse. First of all, Ugo deserved to win. That's obvious."
Obviously, Alcaraz was aware of the stats about the speed of the court. Still, he was baffled as to why the tournament organizers chose to make it so fast.
"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. And the fastest one 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 lot a court from other tournaments and obviously in the same tournament compared to other years."
"So 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."
Now, he will try to forget the disappointment from the Paris Masters, as he still has two more events to complete. First, it will be the ATP Finals in Turin, and after that the Davis Cup Final 8 in Malaga.
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