Absent N.1 Jannik Sinnerwhich meets a three -month sanction per doping, the hierarchy of the circuit ATP It seems to have been left without a reference and tennis players like Alcaraz, Djokovic and Zverev They accumulate bad results since the Italian does not play.
“The last months have been rare. Jannik has not played, I have played very badly, Carlos (Alcaraz) either,” Zverev summarized when he arrived in Montecarlo for the first major tournament of the whipped earth tour.
The German hoped that with the clay season “to a certain normality would be turned”, with three or four players dominating “the circuit, but just three days later, Zverev himself said goodbye to Montecarlo at the first exchange after losing in his debut against the Italian Matteo Berretini on Tuesday.
– “A very rare months” –
Zverev has recognized that defeat in the Australian Open final against Sinner last January left him very touched. Since then, the German has won only six of its last twelve games and has no prominent results, beyond two quarterfinals in Buenos Aires and Rio and some eighth in Miami.
“It is the worst period from my injury (in Roland Garros in 2022),” Zverev acknowledged at a press conference after losing against Berretini.
In Melbourne, Sinner played his only tournament so far in the season before reaching an agreement with the World Anti -Doping Agency (AMA) to meet a three -month sanction for a positive an anabolic in March 2024.
The 23 -year -old Italian, who attributed the positive to accidental contamination with a cream, can return to the circuit in the 1,000 Masters of Rome, from May 7 to 18. Whatever happens until then, you will return keeping the World N.1.
“The pressure has killed me”
Carlos Alcaraz has also recognized that the absence of Italian has affected him: “Many people tell me about the options of being number 1 by not playing Sinner and that pressure, probably, has somehow killed me,” said the N.3 recently in an interview with The Independent.
“I am too far from Jannik. All I want is to play. That is the goal,” added an Alcaraz that is more than 3,000 points of the Italian in the ranking.
Unlike Zverev, Alcaraz has already won a tournament this year, in Róterdam at the beginning of February, but in recent weeks he accumulates disappointments, as in Miami, where he lost in his debut in the second round, or before in Indian Wells, where he reached semifinals but without having faced any Top 10 tennis player.
Two tournaments that Juan Carlos Ferrero’s disciple already has in his record, which also includes four Grand Slams despite his youth (21 years old).
In the case of Novak Djokovic (37 years old), former World Cup with the Grand Slams record (24), its irregularity is explained above all by age.
“Most open tournaments”
In Australia he had to leave in the semifinals for a muscular problem in the left leg, in Doha and Indian Wells fell into his debut and in Miami he reached the final, but the young Czech Jakub Mesik deprived him of conquering his 100th title in his career.
“When you hit the ball well and you want games, it is a wonderful feeling. Obviously, when you play less well and lose soon in tournaments, doubts appear,” admitted the Serbian, currently n.5 of the ATP.
In those difficult moments, “there are small voices inside that make you doubt” to continue or not as a professional tennis player, Djokovic added.
This disruption in the male tennis hierarchy has benefited other tennis players, such as the British Jack Draper (N.6), who won the title in Indian Wells, or the aforementioned Mesik (N.23) in Miami, who achieved their first titles in 1,000 Masters Tournaments, the most important after the four Grand Slam.
“It’s more open than ever, you tell yourself that everything is possible,” summarized veteran Richard Gasquet (n.164) after overcoming the first round in Montecarlo.
Opinion that Alcaraz shares: “Currently, the paintings (of the tournaments) are more open. I see many players capable of doing interesting things on land. The season is interesting!”
