Around this time of the year, historically, Carlos Alcaraz tends to wilt.
After all, having usually given almost everything to compete in all four Grand Slams, among many other elite events, October represents a tenth straight month of relentless competition. It’s only natural that fatigue would start to kick in, thus explaining why he has never won the Paris or Shanghai Masters, nor the ATP Finals.
However, this season has been unlike any other for the Spaniard, having actually been forced to sit out for the bulk of the campaign, ever since sustaining a wrist injury in April.
He only made his return in late August, some five months later, missing two majors and four Masters 1000 events in the process.
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At the time, seeing these prestigious tournaments pass him by must have been devastating.
But now that he is back, it’s worth wondering whether this enforced break from the sport might see him end the 2026 season with a level of energy and vigour we have never really seen from him during this stretch of the campaign previously.
Carlos Alcaraz claims he’s feeling fresh mentally and ready to finish 2026 strong
One reporter at Carlos Alcaraz’s Shanghai Masters press conference certainly thought the same, and asked the 23-year-old whether he too felt like five months away from the sport had refreshed him physically and mentally.
He corrected the journalist on the former, but went on to make a rather worrying claim for the rest of his peers on the ATP Tour.
Alcaraz admitted: “Well, yeah, I wouldn’t say my body, because, you know, after being such a long time without competition, when I just start going back to the tour, playing matches, really demanding physically matches, it feels like the body is not used to it, and it might cause a little bit of minor problems. For us, it’s really normal to feel that.
“But I’m feeling fresh mentally, which for me is the most important thing. I’m ready to take the challenge of this tournament. If we see a couple years back, you know, probably this swing or this part of the season, it’s never been my best one. So, right now I just want to be in a good state for this tournament, because I really want to win the tournaments, this one and the tournaments that I have in a couple months at least one day. So right now I think it’s an extra boost that I have for the rest of the season.”
Alcaraz has already been backed to win the ATP Finals by Greg Rusedski, likely aided by the fact that Alcaraz has just won his first title since returning from injury, defending his Japan Open crown.
Carlos Alcaraz says if he has been surprised by this crazy year on the ATP Tour
Later on in that same press conference, another section of the media wanted to reflect on what has been a crazy season on the ATP Tour.
First, it was Alcaraz being injured, forced to miss Roland Garros and Wimbledon among many other tournaments.
Now, Jannik Sinner has had to shut down his season, with his last match coming in the Wimbledon final.
As such, Alexander Zverev is now guaranteed to become the new world number one, having won two majors in the absence of these dominant superstars.
Asked whether he was surprised by the nature of this campaign, Alcaraz admitted: “Not at all.”
He continued: “I know tennis, it’s, let’s say, a roller coaster. A player can start the year really, really well, winning two, three, four tournaments, whatever it is. Then it might change to another player who, in the clay season, even the grass, can dominate the tour and winning every tournament. And then, you know, for the USA can change everything.
“A year can be really long. We play a lot of matches. We play a lot of tournaments. We have a lot of time sometimes to adapt our games the best we can for the rest of the season.
“So, I know that tennis, you have to be ready and focused every tournament, every week you have on practices just to be better, because the other players are practicing maybe harder than you to catch you up.
“That’s the beauty of tennis, I would say, to have a lot of players, you know, like fighting for the same thing and, you know, having the ranking move all around. So, I’m not surprised at all.”
