Sick Alcaraz Suffers Painful Loss To Ruud At ATP Finals

Carlos Alcaraz lost his first match at the 2024 ATP Finals in Turin to Casper Ruud, and his sickness and opponent's level were mainly to blame.

Even athletes can't choose when they get sick, even though they certainly do their best to peak at the best moments. In particular, they certainly want to play their best at majors, but also at tournaments such as the ATP Finals.

After his disappointing third-round loss to Ugo Humbert at the 2024 Paris Masters, the 21-year-old wanted to return to winning ways at the ATP Finals in Turin, and he made his best efforts to have a good tournament.

His coach, Juan Carlos Ferrero, even installed a court that mimics the one used at the ATP Finals in their training facility to maximize the Spaniard's chances of succeeding at the year-end championship.

Unfortunately for Alcaraz, he got sick just before the start of the tournament, which significantly impacted his chances of succeeding at the tournament. During his practice sessions before his match, the Spaniard was seen blowing his nose multiple times.

f

@fvaaey

·Follow

guys:(

Watch on Twitter

678

Reply

Copy link

Read 19 replies

He still stepped onto the court against Ruud, even though it quickly became obvious that he wasn't 100% healthy. That's something that Ruud tried not to be distracted by, focusing on winning the match.

Still, the Spanish player had the first two break points of the match, already in the opening game. However, he couldn't use them, and that proved to be costly. Ruud broke already in the fourth game, leading 3-1.

Alcaraz had a chance to break back, with three more break points in the fifth game, but again, he couldn't convert any of those chances. Ruud remained solid, breaking once again and holding also in his last service game to dominantly win the first set 6-1.

It seemed that Alcaraz could get better in the second set, as both players held their serve without too many issues. In the sixth game, the Spanish player even got to a break point chance, and this time, he converted it.

Leading 4-2, the World No. 3 held his serve to lead 5-2, and when leading 30-15 on his opponent's serve, the four-time major winner was only two points away from winning the set.

Unfortunately for him, he couldn't keep that level for too long. Ruud stepped up, winning five games in a row to win the second set and the match, 6-1, 7-5, to secure his first win at the 2024 ATP Finals.

Naturally, the Norwegian player was happy about the victory, especially since he lost in all of their previous meetings.

Alcaraz will now try to get healthy before his next match, which will be played on Wednesday. To advance, he will likely need to beat both Alexander Zverev and Andrey Rublev, but to do that, he will need to be healthy.

Read also

Rublev Faces Backlash From Opponent 'Unfair' Metz Withdrawal For ATP Finals

Ruud, obviously, will want to beat these players, too. After the match, the Norwegian player admitted that he was aware that his opponent was sick, but he still tried to give his best to win the match without too many complications.

Read also

WATCH: Medvedev Loses His Mind During Crazy Meltdown At ATP Finals