Tournament of Champions draw: Who will Alcaraz face in his much-anticipated debut?

Carlos Alcaraz has accomplished a lot in the past year. Nevertheless, he will make his debut at the Tournament of Champions. Who will he face in the main group at the final event of the 2023 season? Can its success be expected?

It’s only been a little over a year that Carlos Alcaraz has been a household name. During this time, he managed to win two Grand Slam titles and also go through a minor result crisis.

Let’s not make a camel out of a gnat, but it’s fair to admit that the Spaniard’s results in recent weeks have not been the best. He certainly does not now stand next to Novak Djokovic as a completely balanced rival in the fight for the title of world number one.

Tournament of Champions 2023

Alcaraz is expecting, although it may surprise, the premiere at the Tournament of Champions. He qualified for the Turin event, officially called the Nitto ATP Finals, last year as well, but did not participate due to injury.

The youngest world number one in history has a huge challenge ahead of her. Succeed at the final event of the season on the ATP circuit in his debut and at the same time dispel doubts about his current performance.

Of course, you can’t pick your opponents at such a heated tennis event, but the draw was quite tough for the current world number two. The Spanish star does not have a positive match record with any of his opponents.

Alcaraz will face the Russians Medvedev (2:2 record) and Rublyov (the Spaniard has no match against him), as well as the German Zverev (3:3 in matches).

The 20-year-old played three big matches with Medvedev this year. In the final of the Masters in Indian Wells and in the semi-final of Wimbledon Alcaraz rejoiced, in the semi-final of the US Open it was the Russian tennis player. Now at least the fourth duel awaits them and again with a lot of charge.

The Wimbledon champion will be a heavy favorite against both Zverev and Rublev. For example, experts rave about his forehand with the potential of an elite stopball, but Alcaraz’s recent results raise doubts.

In conclusion…

While the green group of the ATP Finals is the “group of death” for everyone except Djokovic, the most anticipated event in the red group will be the performance of the paper number one Alcaraz. His opponents here have a significantly more realistic chance of threatening the favorite than the fighters from Djokovic’s quartet.

Source: ATP