Tennis star Carlos Alcaraz and two number 1s

(NLDO) - Everyone thought Alcaraz would easily reach the world number 1 position in 2025, but then the surprise happened: Alcaraz was eliminated in the first match at the Paris Master.

Early this morning, November 12, after defeating Taylor Fritz 2-1, Carlos Alcaraz only needs 1 more win at the ATP Finals to officially become the world's number 1 male tennis player on the ATP rankings 2025.

It sounds like everything will be easy for the young world number 1 Alcaraz, but what happened before and during the ATP Finals - the last tournament of the 2025 season for the world's top 8 players, was not easy at all. Why?

Alcaraz and inconsistent form

With a 17-match winning streak at Masters 1000 tournaments, no one expected Alcaraz to lose to Cameron Norrie, the world's 27th-ranked player, 6-4, 3-6, 4-6 in the second round of the Paris Masters. More importantly, Alcaraz played below par with 54 unforced errors, and that was the condition for the 30-year-old British player Norrie to reach the round of 16 of a Masters 1000 tournament for the first time since Rome 2023.

This disastrous loss only earned Alcaraz 10 points in the tournament (due to being exempted from the first round). At the same time, world number 2 Jannik Sinner won the Paris Master and was awarded 1000 points, so Alcaraz had to win 3 matches at the ATP Finals 2025 to keep the number 1 position, regardless of Sinner's performance at the ATP Finals 2025.

Struggling to win the first two matches

After two defeats in the opening match in Turin (Italy) against Alexander Zverev (2023) and Casper Ruud (2024), Alcaraz was cautious with the desire to change his unlucky fate in the first match at the ATP Finals. Although he won the match as expected, Alcaraz struggled in the first set, and only thanks to his bravery and steely spirit was he able to win from a 3-5 deficit, then score four points in a row and close the match with a 7-5 victory in the tie-break. After that, things got easier for Alcaraz and he quickly won the second set.

In the second match, it was once again only thanks to his bravery and moments of brilliance that Alcaraz was able to overcome the jaws of death and win against Taylor Fritz. After losing the first set, when the two players tied 2-2 in the second set, Alcaraz held the serve, at one point Alcaraz faced a break and everything seemed over, but an incredible save helped Alcaraz turn around and win this set to go up 3-2.

A goal lasted 14 minutes and Alcaraz was happy as if he had won the whole match, because this was the pivotal victory that helped Alcaraz come back, because more than anyone, Alcaraz understood that he would most likely lose the match if Fritz broke this serve.

Recalling Alcarzaz's moments of death and resurrection at the tournament helps us understand more clearly that Alcarzaz has not yet achieved his best physical condition and form.

Alcaraz and the final hurdle Lorenzo Musetti

Up to now, Alcaraz has gone 2/3 of the way when he beat Alex de Minaur 2-0 (7/6, 6/2) and Taylor Fritz 2-1 (6/7, 7/5, 6/3). Will Alcaraz continue to beat Lorenzo Musetti in the final match of the group stage to ensure he is the world's No. 1 tennis player in 2025?

In theory, Alcaraz is rated much higher than Musetti in every aspect, even the history of the confrontation is completely in favor of Alcaraz with a score of 6-1 in which Alcaraz won all 6 recent times from 2023 to now, and the only loss took place in 2022. Not to mention Musetti, the 9th ranked player on the ATP rankings, was able to participate in the tournament thanks to the withdrawal of No. 4 Novak Djokovic.

However, when Musetti beat Minaur 2-1 (7/5, 3/6, 7/5) early this morning, the situation changed.

After two rounds, the current standings are as follows:

	Win - Lose	Win-lose game
Carlos Alcaraz	2 - 0	4 - 1
Taylor Fritz	1 - 1	3 - 2
Lorezo Musetti	1 - 1	2 - 3
Alex de Minaur	0 - 2	1 - 4

In the final round, two matches starting at the same time at 8:00 p.m. on November 13 (Vietnam) will take place between Alcaraz - Musetti, Fritz - Minaur, in which Fritz has the advantage when Minaur has been eliminated, and the only motivation for Minaur to want to win now is only the bonus, completely opposite to Fritz who has too much motivation to win this match.

No one thought Alcaraz would be eliminated in the first match of Paris Master 2025 and few believed that Musetti would win a place in ATP Finals. However, with the victory over Minaur, Musetti rose from 9th place to 6th place in the ATP rankings. Moreover, Musetti is only 23 years and 6 months old, so he is as energetic and ambitious as Alcaraz, 22 years and 5 months old.

With the home advantage, will Musetti make a surprise by beating Alcaraz 2-0 to enter the semi-finals of the ATP Finals? Or, Alcaraz, despite his often declining form as the season progresses, will not miss the opportunity to overcome Musetti's barrier to soon become world number 1 in 2025?

With the current rankings, Alcaraz only beat Fritz 2-1, while Fritz beat Musetti 2-0, so Alcaraz will still be eliminated if he loses to Musetti 0-2 and in the same match Fritz beats Minaur.

With this necessary and sufficient condition, the possibility of Alcaraz being eliminated from the group stage is more difficult than entering the semi-finals, because even if Alcaraz loses 1-2 to Musetti, Alcaraz is still sure to finish in the top two positions to enter the semi-finals.

Source: https://nld.com.vn/ngoi-sao-quan-vot-carlos-alcaraz-va-hai-con-so-1-196251112135458473.htm