"I preferred to retire, I have ATP Finals" - Alcaraz trying to avoid major injury in Paris

Carlos Alcaraz was forced to withdraw from his quarterfinal match at the 2022 Paris Masters against Holger Rune in the second set tie-break.

The young Spaniard was challenged by his teenage friend from Denmark. Rune played a very solid match and pushed world no. 1 to his limits in both sets. Eventually, Carlos Alcaraz was forced to retire also because of the upcoming ATP Finals that he qualified for. Speaking about his injury after the match, he said:

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"At the end of the set, it was wrong," Alcaraz said of the abdominal injury. "It was getting wrong and I preferred to retire and see it, and take care [of] it. I feel the abdominal in so many movements. Yeah, I was thinking about it. Playing like that with some problems and some things in my mind, it's better to retire."

The Spaniard has one clear focus and that is the ATP Finals, where he never played before. Last year, Alcaraz triumphed at the Next Gen ATP Finals and this year, it's time for the youngest world no. 1 in the ATP Rankings to take a step up.

"I have the Nitto [ATP] Finals. I have some tests on how it's going to be before Turin. But right now I'm focused to try to get better in the abdominal and trying to be at 100 per cent in Turin."

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