The Spanish Carlos Alcaraz considered the defeat in his debut in the Paris Masters 1,000 against the Russian Roman Safiullin "disappointing" and assured that it ends his options of finishing the year as number 1 in the world.
"After this defeat I have no options, all the options I had to finish number 1 at the end of the year are gone. We are not going to think that, I think there are zero opportunities," said Alcaraz, visibly touched by the defeat in a tournament at that came with high expectations.
Alcaraz, who ruled out having suffered from the physical problems that led him to miss the Basel tournament last week, said he was "disappointed with the level" he had and acknowledged that he expected to "give more on the court," which takes him to think that he has "many things to improve" if he wants to close the year well in the Turin Masters, which brings together the eight best of the year.
The Spaniard attributed his bad game "to mental issues", considered that his level of play was "decent" but that he did not know how to take advantage of the few opportunities that an opponent who "had no downturns" gave him.
"My tennis requires a high physical level, but mobility, speed, I have lacked a lot. I have felt slow," he stated. Although he assured that he normally tries to forget defeats quickly, he confessed that "on days like this it is more difficult."
"Losing in the first rounds of tournaments that you hope to reach the final rounds or that you demand of yourself hurts. Today is one of the few times that I don't want to think about the next few days, about training. But it has to be done, there is one tournament left. But these defeats hurt a lot," he commented.
Alcaraz assured that he still has time to prepare in good conditions for the Turin Masters, although now it is difficult for him to think about it.
"There are many days of training left to reach the level I want, but now I don't have the courage to talk about that. After this defeat I have to take some distance before talking about the future and what I have to do," he said.
