After beating Taylor Fritz in the final of the Japan Open, Carlos Alcaraz and his team made a shocking announcement, indicating that the world No. 1 would no longer be playing the Rolex Shanghai Masters.
The Masters 1000 tournament, which Alcaraz has never won, begins tonight with the Round of 128.
While Alcaraz was able to win the Japan Open despite rolling his ankle earlier in the week, the Spanish star explained the situation to fans in a post on Instagram:
“I’m very disappointed to announce that I won’t be able to play the Rolex Shanghai Masters this year! Unfortunately, l’ve been struggling with some physical issues and, after discussing with my team, we believe the best decision is to rest and recover. I was really looking forward to playing in front of the amazing fans in Shanghai again. I hope to be back soon and see my Chinese fans next
year!”
With Alcaraz’s withdrawal, reigning champion Jannik Sinner, who defeated Novak Djokovic last year in the final of the Rolex Shanghai Masters, is now the favorite to win this year’s tournament.
Alcaraz Reflects on Win Over Fritz
Despite the nagging ankle injury, Carlos Alcaraz impressed in Japan, picking up a straight-set win over Taylor Fritz in the final after recently having lost to Fritz in singles at the Laver Cup.
After the win, Alcaraz spoke about his rocky start to the season during an interview with ATPTour.com, explaining that he’s proud of himself for turning things around.
“It’s been my best season so far without a doubt. Eight titles, 10 finals… That shows how hard I’ve worked just to be able to experience these moments and accomplish my goals. I didn’t start the year that good, struggling emotionally, so how I came back from that, I’m just really proud of myself, and of all the people around me who have helped me to be in this position.”
With Alcaraz’s withdrawal from the Rolex Shanghai Masters, it will be interesting to see if the world No. 1 returns in Vienna or Basel, or prioritizes the Rolex Paris Masters at the end of October.
Carlos Alcaraz Reflects on Japan Debut
Although Alcaraz suffered an ankle injury early in the tournament, the world No. 1 dropped just one set across his five matches en route to Tuesday’s win.
While speaking with ATPTour.com, the six-time Grand Slam winner spoke about his time in Japan:
“I enjoyed every single second, [apart from] the five minutes I was on the floor after I hurt my ankle. I’m really happy with the level that I played, with everything. Starting the week not good with the ankle, and the way that I came back from that, I’m just really happy about it.”
For his win, Alcaraz took home $416,365 in addition to the appearance fee he received for playing the tournament.
He’s currently up to 11,540 points in the ATP live rankings, however, because he’ll miss Shanghai, he won’t defend his quarterfinal ranking points from last season.
Despite that, he still sits firmly in first place in the Race to Turin with 11,040 points, putting him nearly a full 2,000 points ahead of Jannik Sinner, and more than 6,000 points ahead of Alexander Zverev in third place.
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