Forty-three days after their last meeting, Murcian carlos alcaraz He returned to the slopes and lost to the Russian Andrey Rublev (2-6 and 1-6). at the Abu Dhabi show tournament, where he showed he needed more shots to cover the new season with warranties.
The world number one sustained its final defeat. After retiring due to intercostal discomfort in his last match before the break, he lost again in the next match if he fell to the Danish Holger Rune at the Masters 1,000 in Paris.
Mudabala World Tennis in Abu Dhabi was presented as the starting point for Alcaraz to continue as it was last year. Before the start of the tournament, in the middle of the pre-season and less than fifteen days before the start of a campaign that should have been the blessing of the tennis player from El Palmar.Murcian revealed on television that he was still living a dream he didn’t believe was happening.
In fact, Murcian’s work was rewarded with two ATP awards this week: his coach, Juan Carlos Ferrero won the best coach of the year award; he also picked the most improved player in 2022.
Again, Stumbled upon Alcaraz, Abu Dhabi. They faced a player who had beaten Croatia’s Borna Coric (7-6, 6-4) the day before and had a slightly more competitive pace than world number one.
Rublev started strong and hit the first trade, When he managed to break Alcaraz’s serve in the second game, Alcaraz was able to respond very quickly but failed to take advantage of the two time-out balls. The first set with a score of 0-3 was already very difficult for the Spanish tennis player and he was finally defeated by a score of 2-6.
Alcaraz failed to recover in the second set with an obvious lack of rhythm and here it is. Rublev did not spare his opponent and quickly, point by point, reached the final victory. Alcaraz later expressed his initial feelings to the tournament media after playing the match again a month and a half after the tracks.
“This is so hard. They are my first games and my first game since Paris. I couldn’t train as I wanted. I am very happy to be here to play with the ‘best’ players to prepare for the new season.. “I’m very happy to be playing again and trying to do my best.” The final will then be played between Rublev and Stefanos Tsitsipas.
Alcaraz will then continue its preparations for another demonstration tournament. He will begin his adventure in Melbourne from January 10-12, followed by the Australian Open, which will start on January 16 and end on the 29th of the same month.