The Spaniard is contesting the Paris-Bercy tournament this week, one of the last two he will play before the end of the season, in which Alcaraz also
Rafa Nadal’s competitive break comes to an end. The Balearic tennis player stopped his season after the US Open quarter-final defeat due to his close paternity. He put the sport aside to focus on the birth of his first child, making only a break along the way to join his friend Roger Federer in his farewell to the Laver Cup. Once he became a father, Nadal took down his racket and, after several training sessions at his academy in Manacor, he has traveled to Paris to play one of the two tournaments he has left before concluding the season.
The Masters 1,000 in Paris-Bercy, one of two Nadal never won, along with Miami, is the penultimate stop for the Balearic Islands, before playing the ATP Finals in Turin and touring South America with Casper Ruud to play different exhibits. Nadal arrives in the French capital as number two in the world, 880 points behind Carlos Alcaraz, who also plays in Paris, and with the potential to beat Muciano for the remainder of the season. There are 2,500 points at stake between Paris (1,000) and Turin (1,500) with Nadal defending nothing from 2021 and Alcaraz only 90. While Alcaraz wants to finish the year as the best in the world for the first time, for Nadal it is being the sixth time, which would put him on the same level as Pete Sampras and one of seven that has Novak Djokovic, the sole leader of this statistic. Nadal will make his debut on Wednesday against the winner of the match between Roberto Bautista and Tommy Paul and can face Denis Shapovalov or Pablo Carreño in the eighth finals, Stefanos Tsitsipas in the quarterfinals and Djokovic, who won here six times, in the semifinals.
Alcaraz enters Paris-Bercy as the number one in the world, this is the third ATP tournament in which he wears it, after Astana and Basel. The memory of the Swiss city is bitter, having won three games in a row for the first time since their US Open conquest, but with a heavy and big defeat to Felix Auger-Aliassime in the semi-finals. The Canadian, who also beat him in the Davis Cup, has racked up thirteen wins in a row and three consecutive titles, making him one of the most dangerous tennis players today.
Alcaraz also debuts on Wednesday
Alcaraz will also make his debut on Wednesday against Yoshihito Nishioka, who defeated Aslan Karastsev in straight sets. The man who most threatens Alcaraz’s team is Daniil Medvedev, who on Monday dethroned Casper Ruud as the third best tennis player in the world and was seen with the Murcian in the semifinals. After withdrawing from Astana in the semifinals, the Russian did not fail in Vienna and won the fifteenth title of his career. The Russian is defending 1,590 points between now and the end of the season and his chances of returning to number one are slim. He should win in Paris-Bercy and finish the Turin Masters tournament unbeaten.
Yes, there are two places at stake for the jewel in the crown of the ATP. Alcaraz, Nadal, Ruud, Medvedev, Djokovic and Tsitsipas have already qualified for the Masters Cup and Auger-Aliassime, Andrey Rublev, Hubert Hurkacz and Taylor Fritz are playing for the last two spots in Paris.
Many eyes are also on Djokovic, who has racked up nine consecutive wins to earn him the titles in Tel Aviv and Astana, and who is having the strangest season of his career. The Serb appears in Paris as sixth seed and makes his debut against Diego Schwartzman or Maxime Cressy.
Source: La Verdad
I’m an experienced news author and editor based in New York City. I specialize in covering healthcare news stories for Today Times Live, helping to keep readers informed on the latest developments related to the industry. I have a deep understanding of medical topics, including emerging treatments and drugs, the changing laws that regulate healthcare providers, and other matters that affect public health.
