Carlos Alcaraz\u2019s leap up to No 2 in the ATP live rankings has been confirmed, but the Spaniard\u2019s hopes of replacing Jannik Sinner as world No 1 look forlorn for the next few months.<\/p>\n
Alcaraz<\/a> failed to make the most of Sinner\u2019s absence from the ATP Tour as the Italian served a three-month suspension for posting a positive doping test in March 2024.<\/p>\n He is returning to action at this week\u2019s Italian Open and his lead at the top of the ATP Rankings is big enough to ensure he will not be threatened any time soon.<\/p>\n Alcaraz is the player most under threat in the rankings over the next couple of months, as he will have a massive 4,000 ranking points to defend from his wins at the French Open and Wimbledon last year.<\/p>\n Zverev is also defending plenty of points, with the 1,000 he won at the Italian Open last year backed up by another huge haul of points from his appearance in last year\u2019s Frencg Open final.<\/p>\n Sinner will be the No 1 seed at the next two Grand Slam events at the French Open and Wimbledon and Alcaraz is on course to be No 2 seed for those events.<\/p>\n Alcaraz has jumped above Alexander Zverev in the live ATP Rankings, with the German dropping 1,000 on his ranking from last year\u2019s Rome Masters event.<\/p>\n Rafael Nadal makes bold prediction about \u2018special\u2019 Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz<\/a><\/p>\n Juan Carlos Ferrero\u2019s public criticism of Carlos Alcaraz labelled \u2018a risky move\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n If he defends his title in the Italian capital, he could reclaim the No 2 seeding position for the French Open which would ensure the earliest he could face Sinner would be in the Roland Garros final.<\/p>\n Alcaraz will be keen to ensure he is the player who has that No 2 seeding berth, but he has admitted the pressure of chasing down Sinner during the Italian\u2019s absence from the game has impacted his mindset.<\/p>\n \u201cSince Jannik hasn\u2019t been able to play tournaments, a lot of people have asked me about it and talked about it, about how important a time it is for me to reach No 1 again or to win tournaments,\u201d said Alcaraz.<\/p>\n \u201cProbably, in a way, I\u2019ve been thinking about it too much instead of playing good tennis and enjoying myself on the court and in the matches. After Miami, I realised the path I have to follow and the things I have to do. I don\u2019t have to think about the results or anything else, I just have to have fun.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s the most important thing for me, and not paying attention to expectations or what people say about you. That\u2019s what I\u2019m trying to do, and I think it\u2019s going well for me so far.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m happy to have reached this level, but I think I can do better. At the beginning of the week, with the first clay-court tournament, you focus on adapting to the conditions. The ball comes to you differently, the game on clay is different. Once I\u2019ve reached this level, I have to keep improving and, if possible, raise it.\u201d<\/p>\n For his part, Zverev has admitted he is not in the form needed to challenge Sinner or Alcaraz in the battle for the No 1 ranking, even though he lifted an ATP 500 title in Munich last month.<\/p>\n \u201cWorld No. 1? It would be nice. I don\u2019t know. I have not been there. I believe I will. So we\u2019ll see how it goes,\u201d said Zverev as he spoke to the media in Rome.<\/p>\n \u201cI do think the media also loves to put players down, right? I had a bad two months before Munich, right? I didn\u2019t play great tennis before Munich. All of a sudden, I\u2019m like the worst world No 2 in the world ever. I don\u2019t deserve to be there. I\u2019m there because I won tournaments. I\u2019m there because I have results.<\/p>\n \u201cThe ranking system doesn\u2019t lie. You get points for winning matches, you get points for winning titles. Yes, I know I didn\u2019t play up to my standard. I know I didn\u2019t play up to what I wanted to do. But neither did Carlos. Then he won Monte Carlo.<\/p>\n \u201cThere are periods in a player\u2019s career\u2026 Do you think Novak is happy with his results? Do you think Carlos is happy with his results? I\u2019m not happy with my results.\u201d<\/p>\n Zverev and Alcaraz got their Italian Open campaigns off to a flying start with convincing wins in their opening matches, with the battle to be seeded No 2 at the French Open certain to be one of the big talking points over the next few days in Rome.<\/p>\n READ NEXT: Carlos Alcaraz reveals which test he passed during Rome win<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n The post Carlos Alcaraz faces a fight to avoid a rankings slide despite possible move up to No 2<\/a> appeared first on Tennis365<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Carlos Alcaraz\u2019s leap up to No 2 in the ATP live rankings has been confirmed, but the Spaniard\u2019s hopes of replacing Jannik Sinner as world No 1 look forlorn for the next few months. Alcaraz failed to make the most of Sinner\u2019s absence from the ATP Tour as the Italian served a three-month suspension for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-433","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/433","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=433"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/433\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=433"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=433"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=433"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}More Tennis News<\/h3>\n