Carlos Alcaraz found one aspect of his game confusing at the ATP Finals.
Battling illness, the Spaniard took to the court and faced Andrey Rublev in an attempt to keep his campaign alive.
The Spaniard got back to winning ways on Wednesday afternoon by defeating the Russian in his second round robin match.
Alcaraz defeated the eighth seed 6-3, 7-6(8) in one hour and 36 minutes to give himself a chance of reaching the final four in Turin.
What did Carlos Alcaraz find confusing about his game?
Carlos Alcaraz was out of sorts against Casper Ruud in his opening ATP Finals match.
He produced a surprising first set, in which he made under 50% of his first serves, hit just six winners, registered 15 unforced errors and converted none of five break points.
He improved in set two and served for it at 5-3, but Ruud broke back and then reeled off four successive games to beat Alcaraz 6-1, 7-5.
The drop shot did not prove effective for Alcaraz, but it worked to perfection in his victory against Rublev. Post-match, Alcaraz admitted his confusion with being unable to play one of his favourite and most effective shots in his defeat to Ruud.
“I felt like the last matches I could not hit good drop shots and I was thinking what is going on? My style and game is about playing this kind of shots,” Alcaraz said post-match.
“I tried to do it today and it felt pretty good from the baseline and running. I had many options on my mind, if I didn’t feel well, moving and running I had more options to do it. But I am really happy that option A, of running and rallying from the baseline happened.”
Who is Carlos Alcaraz’s next opponent?
Alcaraz will face arguably the toughest task of his ATP Finals campaign so far when he takes on Alexander Zverev in his final group stage match.
Zverev entered the season-ending championships fresh off winning the Paris Masters 1000 tournament and has won his first two matches against Alex de Minaur and Casper Ruud.
The pair has played 10 times in the past and have five wins apiece, and their next encounter promises to be a thrilling one.
Should Alcaraz suffer defeat, he will be eliminated from the ATP Finals in what many would see as a shock result.
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