MADRID, 1 Nov. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Spanish tennis players Carlos Alcaraz and Rafa Nadal will begin their journey this Wednesday in the Paris-Bercy tournament, the last Masters 1,000 of the season and in which both hope to shine in their struggle to finish the year as number one in the world.
The one from El Palmar and the one from Manacor face their last two appointments of a 2022 that is being very positive for both of them and that they will close in the ATP Finals. In the French capital both will be the first two favorites, although the surface, on a hard indoor court, is not the most favorable for either of them, especially for the winner of 22 Grand Slams who returns after another long break.
Carlos Alcaraz’s pupil is not having the desired regularity after winning the US Open and first place in the ranking last September, but he arrives in Paris with the positive note of reaching the semifinals last week in Basel (Switzerland), where he crossed paths with his current ‘black beast’, the Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime.
The number one in the world knows that to certify this condition and be the youngest in history to finish on the throne of the world ranking at the end of the year, he must sign great results both in Paris-Bercy, where last year he fell in the second round against the local Hugo Gaston, as in the ATP Finals in Turin (Italy).
In the last Masters 1,000 of the season, the young Spanish tennis player will debut against the Japanese Yoshihito Nishioka and on his way to the final he could have the Russians Andrey Rublev and Daniil Medvedev, in addition to the toned Auger-Aliassime.
For his part, Nadal also has options to achieve world number one at the end of a successful season, although the Spaniard has already made it clear that this goal does not obsess him and that what he wants is to be competitive in his last two tournaments, which he will face after another five-week hiatus.
The man from Manacor played his last match at the end of September in the Laver Cup, the farewell double with Roger Federer, and then he has been without playing after becoming a father for the first time and to refine his set-up for a year end that he is usually choked.
The champion in Australia and at Roland Garros will return to action against the American Tommy Paul, his first rival to try to conquer one of the 1,000 Masters that has historically resisted him since he has only played the final once, in 2007 with loss to Argentine David Nalbandian. The Spaniard has reached the semifinals in his last two participations and will have a draw with possible crosses with the Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas, the Norwegian Casper Ruud or the Serbian Novak Djokovic, with whom he would see himself in a hypothetical semifinals.