Alcaraz aims at world No. 1 spot after Paris disappointment

After securing consecutive Grand Slam titles and a silver medal at the Paris Olympics, world number three Carlos Alcaraz has set his sights on finishing the season as the top-ranked player in the world. The 21-year-old Spaniard, who won at both the French Open and Wimbledon this year, narrowly lost to Novak Djokovic in a thrilling Olympic final. Now, Alcaraz is gearing up for the Cincinnati Open, where he aims to close the gap on Djokovic and current world number one, Jannik Sinner.

Alcaraz is currently 450 points behind Sinner in the ATP live race to the season finale in Turin—a crucial ranking that serves as an indicator for the year-end number one position. Reflecting on his ambitions, Alcaraz said, “Obviously being number one is a goal every time that I’m behind, and the race is an important ranking for me. At the end of the year, if you end the race number one, in the rankings it’s quite similar, so you’re going to end number one.”

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He emphasized his focus on this objective, adding, “I’m really focused on that. I’m focused on going to every tournament, thinking about playing great tennis, doing a good result just to get better in the race. This year, ending the year as number one is one of my main goals right now.”

As last year’s Cincinnati runner-up, Alcaraz is returning to hardcourt competition for the first time since reaching the Miami quarter-finals in March. He will kick off his campaign in Cincinnati against either Gael Monfils or Alexei Popyrin, aiming to solidify his position in the race to become the year-end world number one.