Carlos Alcaraz’s season is over. The Spanish world No 1, who retired from his Paris Masters quarter-final against Holger Rune on Friday, has confirmed he suffered an abdominal tear that will force him to miss the forthcoming ATP and Davis Cup finals.
“After my withdrawal yesterday and having been evaluated by my medical team, unfortunately… this is the result of my injury: an internal oblique muscle tear in the left abdominal wall with an estimated recovery time of six weeks,” Alcaraz wrote on Instagram.
“Unfortunately I won’t make the ATP Finals or the Davis Cup Finals. It is tough and painful for me to miss these two events, which are so important to me, but all I can do is be positive and focus on my recovery.”
Alcaraz, whose six titles this season have included Masters crowns in Miami and Madrid and a first grand slam title at the US Open in September, remains 1,000 points clear of compatriot Rafael Nadal in the race to be crowned year-end No 1. To overtake him, Nadal would need to win the ATP Finals for the first time or make an unbeaten run to the final. The only other player in the mix is Stefanos Tsitsipas, the champion in 2019, who could leapfrog both Spaniards by winning a second crown.
Alcaraz’s place at the ATP Finals will be taken by the 11th-ranked American Taylor Fritz, with Danish teenager Rune promoted to second alternate behind Poland’s Hubert Hurkacz.
Rune, who was four points from victory against Alcaraz at 6-3, 6-6, 3-1, will become first alternate for the season-ending showpiece should he claim the Paris Masters title. That possibility moved a step closer after the 19-year-old Dane avenged his defeat to Felix Auger-Aliassime in the Swiss Indoors final last weekend, seeing off the Canadian 6-4, 6-2 to reach his first Masters 1000 final.
“I hit the ball really clean today, so that was really a key because I could place the ball well, put him under pressure, take time away from him,” said Rune after ending the 16-match winning streak that has earned Auger-Aliassime titles in Florence, Antwerp and Basel.
“I felt the ball very good on the racquet. I could take it extremely early, and I served very precise. I think everything was good.”
Rune will need to reproduce that form in Sunday’s final, where Novak Djokovic awaits after seeing off Tsitsipas 6-2, 3-6, 7-6 (7-4). Djokovic, who twice held to love as he served to stay in the decider, will be bidding for a record-extending seventh title.
“At this stage of my career, to keep pushing myself, keep motivating myself, keep believing that I can win these matches, it means a lot mentally, emotionally for me,” said Djokovic, 35.
“I need to make a statement that I’m still there with the young guys, that I’m able to compete with them and win such tight matches.”
Rune, bidding to become the youngest champion in Paris-Bercy since an 18-year-old Boris Becker won the title in 1986, cannot say he has not been warned.