TURIN, NOV 14 – Hit drop shot Carlos Alcaraz became and helped him overcome his previous physical problems to win 6-3, 7-6 (8) over Andrey Rublev at the ATP Finals yesterday.
The win put Alcaraz back in contention for a place in the semi-finals of the year-end top-eight tournament, after he was beaten by Casper Ruud in straight set in its opening match.
Alcaraz said after Ruud’s game on Monday that he was not feeling well and his ‘stomach was not comfortable.’ The Spaniard then cut training sessions short on Tuesday.
“I just try to focus on my game, on what I have to do, and forget that I’m not healthy, I’m sick and all that stuff,” Alcaraz said.
Alcaraz also wears a pink nose strip to aid his breathing. “It’s something I will wear more often,” he said. “I can recover better chasing points.”
Alcaraz managed to produce a few shots drop shot which gave him the set winner and as Rublev ran after a short ball, the Spaniard hit back to give him the point.
“I feel like last month I couldn’t make it drop shot which is good,” said Alcaraz, whose ranking fell behind Alexander Zverev to No. 3 in this week’s ranking.
“And I thought, ‘What’s going on?’ You know, my style, my game is all about playing shots like this … so I tried to do that today.”
Overall, Alcaraz produced more than twice as many winning shots as Rublev, 31-14.
Alcaraz will face Zverev in the final match of his group while Rublev faces Ruud. – AP
