Carlos Alcaraz received a raucous reception on Wednesday night at Turin’s Pala Alpitour, where he received the ATP No. 1 Trophy presented by Pepperstone. The 19-year-old is the youngest player in history to win the award. “It means a lot to me,” Alcaraz said.
“Getting this trophy, world No. 1, to be a part of tennis history along with many legends, for me [is] an amazing feeling.” The Spaniard was set to make his Nitto ATP Finals debut this week, but he was forced to withdraw due to a torn internal oblique muscle in his left abdominal wall.
He was still happy to enjoy the atmosphere of the season finale in Turin. “I’m a little disappointed that I won’t be able to play here in the Nitto [ATP] Finals. I really wanted to play here,” Alcaraz said. “This kind of thing can happen in tennis life.
But… at the same time I am very grateful to lift this incredible trophy. It is an incredible achievement. All hard work has its reward. For me it’s amazing to lift this trophy today.” Alcaraz is fully focused on rehabbing himself to be in top form for the start of the 2023 season.
The year-end World No. 1 gave a positive update on his status on Wednesday. “[My recovery] is going very well. It goes very fast, too. I am really focused on recovering as soon as possible,” Alcaraz said. “But I could say that in a week we improved a lot on the injury.
I’m going to say at the beginning of the season, I’m going to be ready, I’m going to be 100 percent.” Alcaraz added: “The first weeks after the injury, [it is] very important [not] to stop. That’s what I did the week and a half that I spent, it was with a lot of exercise.
The winner of this year’s US Open, as well as the ATP Masters 1000 titles in Miami and Madrid, is enjoying a vacation “to unwind a bit, to rest.”
Roddick opens up on Alcaraz
With Carlos Alcaraz ending the 2002 season as the World No.
1, the domination of the Big 4 has finally come to an end. “It just goes to show those guys are selfish, very very selfish… keeping titles from us mortals,” Roddick said. “I don’t know if we are ever going to see consistency like we’ve seen from the Big 4 over the last 20 years.
They completely revolutionized the game, it’s just absurd!” Roddick went on to hail Alcaraz, pointing out that it took someone of his immense talent to end the Big 4’s domination. “It took an all-world talent like Carlos Alcaraz who is already a complete player at 19 years old now (to put an end to the domination of the Big 4). What a talent Alcaraz is,” he added
