Daniil Medvedev has openly admitted that Carlos Alcaraz’s ATP peers, himself included, sense a decline in the Spaniard’s confidence, noting that he “doesn’t exhibit the same level of confidence he maintained throughout the entire year.”
The world No 3 also declared that players think Alcaraz is playing “just a little bit slower” and revealed he was “not surprised at all” by his defeat in his opening ATP Finals match.
Alcaraz fell 7-6(3), 3-6, 4-6 to two-time ATP Finals champion Alexander Zverev on Monday in his debut match at the year-end championships and first round-robin encounter in the Red Group at the 2023 event.
The world No 2 struggled to find his best level throughout the contest as he lost his third straight match on tour, following defeats in Shanghai and Paris last month.
Since downing Novak Djokovic in the Wimbledon final in July, the 20-year-old’s form has declined with him reaching one final in his six tournaments before arriving in Turin.
The Spaniard will face world No 5 Andrey Rublev in his second match, before a clash with Medvedev in a rematch of the 2023 US Open semi-final he lost in four sets.
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Speaking following his 6-4, 6-2 victory over Rublev in his opening ATP Finals match, Medvedev was asked if he was surprised by Alcaraz’s loss.
“If you would ask me two, three months ago, for sure. Tennis is very, very tricky sport. At this moment, for whatever reason, we feel that Carlos plays just a little bit slower. He doesn’t have the same confidence he had throughout the whole year,” said the 27-year-old.
“This can happen to everyone. This even happen to Novak when he was younger. The question is, how fast is he going to recover. Is it going to be this tournament or next year.
“When he lost the second set, they showed the speed of the strokes, groundstrokes. Sascha was like 10 kilometres higher than Carlos. This is very surprising. In general when I saw the match, in the beginning we felt that Carlos is not playing his best. Sascha also. So I’m not surprised at all.
“In the end it turned out to be a great fight and a great match. No surprises. Sascha can play well also, serve well. It’s going to be interesting to play him for the 18th time.”
The 2020 ATP Finals winner, who is playing the tournament for the fifth time, also addressed his fitness after playing a tour-leading 81st match of the 2023 season.
“The thing is why I also have this many matches is because I won some tournaments or played finals. I think in terms of tournaments, I don’t know which number I am out of eight, if we talk only how many tournaments I played, but I don’t think I will be in top four,” explained the Russian.
“I think Sascha played more. Probably Rublev played more. I have many matches because I won some tournaments. Also, it’s work that we do in practice. It’s always a question, ‘Do I rest three days and then I go to practice or do I rest seven days?’ It’s always this balance: rest, practice, work, gym, tournament.
“We try to make the best schedule as possible. With tennis it’s tough. We have a tough schedule in tennis. So far with my team it’s been working great, so I’m happy I managed to stay fit today.”
