Tennis: Abdominal tear ends world No. 1 Alcaraz’s season

PARIS – World No. 1  Carlos Alcaraz will skip the ATP Finals and the Davis Cup Finals after picking up an abdominal injury at the Paris Masters, the world No. 1 said on Saturday.

The Spaniard said he would be out for at least six weeks due to an “internal oblique muscle tear in the left abdominal wall”, effectively ending his season.

He had retired from his Paris Masters quarter-final against Denmark’s Holger Rune with an abdominal injury on Friday. The US Open champion had lost the first set 6-3 and was trailing 1-3 in a second-set tiebreak when he decided to stop, having received treatment to his left side at the previous changeover.

“It’s something wrong on the abdominal,” said the Spaniard. “At the end of the set, it was wrong. It was getting wrong and I preferred to retire and take care about it.”

The teenager had been attempting to win a third Masters title of the year after victories in Miami and Madrid.

He would have been confirmed as the year-end world No. 1 before the ATP Finals in Turin had he lifted the trophy this weekend in the French capital. Instead, he will now skip the Nov 13-20 event.

He said: “I cannot stretch. I couldn’t serve well. I couldn’t hit the forehand well.

“When I turn the body, I feel it. I feel the abdomen in so many movements. It’s in a zone that I have problems, I have problems before. Let’s see if it’s the same problem as I felt before or not.”

Danish teenager Rune defeated the in-form Felix Auger-Aliassime 6-4, 6-2 on Saturday to reach the first Masters final of his career and avenge his loss to the Canadian in last weekend’s final in Basel.

He will take on defending champion Novak Djokovic or Stefanos Tsitsipas for the title in the French capital.

“You’re always a bit more nervous when it’s the final because it’s so close to winning the tournament,” said Rune. “It’s going to be super tough... For me it’s just really about playing my game because that’s what can get me the closest to winning tomorrow.” AFP