Carlos Alcaraz is known for his cheerful demeanor on the court. However, the 21-year-old could not hide his anger during a defeat to Alexander Zverev at the ATP Finals.
Alcaraz's chances of competing effectively against Zverev were damaged by an illness he had managed since before the ATP Finals began. That problem visibly hampered him during a loss to Casper Ruud in the opening round-robin contest.
The Spaniard then had to cut a practice session short the following day because of that illness. However, Alcaraz found enough strength to fight through and beat Andrey Rublev on Wednesday.
That meant Alcaraz's chances of qualifying for the semifinal were still alive against Alexander Zverev. But he could not afford to lose to the recent Paris Masters champion in Turin on Friday.
However, Alcaraz was eliminated from the ATP Finals after a 6-7, 4-6 defeat to the German. The four-time Grand Slam champion played his best match of the tournament, but that did not prove enough to beat Zverev.
That loss also guaranteed Alcaraz would finish at No. 3 in the rankings below Zverev. Although the young star won the French Open and Wimbledon this season, his rival's greater consistency secured him the No. 2 spot.
Alcaraz's illness might explain why he was crankier than usual on the court. He is known for smiling during matches and bringing infectious positive energy, and there were some fleeting moments when that happened.
But those were outweighed by the frustration the Spaniard showed throughout. Alcaraz played a great match, considering how he has been feeling throughout the event, and the fact he came close in both sets might have made the defeat harder to take.
Alcaraz is prone to occasional bouts of fiery behavior on the court. An example was when he smashed his racket during a surprising loss at this year's Cincinnati Open against Gael Monfils.
That side of Alcaraz became apparent again when he lost a very close opening set. The Spaniard had chances to win the tiebreak but ended up losing it 5-7 after being slightly weaker in the tight moments.
Alcaraz was furious after not being able to win a physical first set. The importance of winning a set that contained several long rallies may have been more important for the Spaniard because of his illness.
As seen in the video below, Alcaraz did not hide his anger. The young star threw his racket onto the towel beside his chair with great force. The look on the two-time Wimbledon champion's face also showed how annoyed he was.
Alcaraz did not receive a code violation for the move because he did not break the racket and threw it onto a towel. But that did not stop the 21-year-old from slipping to a straight sets loss in Turin.
Next week's Davis Cup Finals, Rafael Nadal's final tournament of his career, will be Alcaraz's last event of 2024. Hopefully, the world No. 3 will be over the illness that bothered him throughout the ATP Finals.