Sensational Carlos Alcaraz defeat gives Novak Djokovic incredible rankings boost

Carlos Alcaraz’s hopes of knocking Novak Djokovic off the top of the ATP rankings before the end of 2023 have suffered a hammer blow after his sensational defeat at the Shanghai Masters. 

A highly impressive performance from Grigor Dimitrov saw him earn his biggest win of the season as he upset Alcaraz 5-7, 6-2, 6-4 to reach the quarter-finals of the ATP 1000 event in China.

It was Dimitrov’s first win against Alcaraz at the fourth attempt and he admitted his level of tennis needed to be high throughout to pull off the victory.

Alcaraz suffered his earliest exit to a tournament since May, when he crashed out of the Rome Open at the last-32 stage in the final warm-up tournament to the French Open, but had made at least the quarter-final of every other event since then.

However, after beating Britain’s Dan Evans in the first round, he crashed out in the last-16 in China after Dimitrov came from behind to post a 5-7 6-2 6-4 victory, clinically out drop-shotting the drop-shot master.

“I stayed in the match, that was the first thing, especially after the first set,” Dimitrov said on the ATP Tour website.

“I was serving very well throughout the first set and he made a few errors. I pushed him to make a lot of errors at certain moments. At 4-5 he played an amazing game and another at 6-5. I was creating a lot of opportunities.

“After the second break in the second set I think I understood his service games and was able to put more balls in and read his serve a bit better. I think in the third set it was a bit of cat-and-mouse.

“I think we both played a solid set. He made a few errors and I was very solid and served well when I had to.”

“I stayed in the match, that was the first thing, especially after the first set,” said Dimitrov.

“I was serving very well throughout the first set and he made a few errors. I pushed him to make a lot of errors at certain moments. At 4-5 he played an amazing game and another at 6-5. I was creating a lot of opportunities.

“After the second break in the second set I think I understood his service games and was able to put more balls in and read his serve a bit better.

“I think in the third set it was a bit of cat-and-mouse. I think we both played a solid set. He made a few errors and I was very solid and served well when I had to.

“I knew what I had to do. I knew I had to apply constant pressure against him.

“Even if I was down, even if my shots were not good enough, I had to put him in uncomfortable positions. He doesn’t like being on the back foot. I was coming in quite a little bit and trying to put him in awkward positions.”

READ MORE: Carlos Alcaraz told to be ‘careful’ about obsessing over Novak Djokovic

Dimitrov already revealed his tactical plan against Alcaraz that many of his opponents are now following.

“Believing in the game. I knew what I had to do against him,” he added. “I knew I had to apply constant pressure against him.

“Even if I was down, I had to keep putting him in uncomfortable positions. He’s a player that doesn’t like to be on the back foot. I mean, which player does, right? I kept using every opportunity I had. I was coming in a bit. Tried to put him in awkward positions. I think that rattled him a bit.”

The defeat for Alcaraz leaves him 2,240 points behind Djokovic in the live ATP rankings, with the Serbian now set to claim the prestigious year-end world No 1 title unless Alcaraz enjoys a sensational end to the season.

Djokovic has 600 points to defend from his run to the Paris Masters final last year and he also has 1,5000 points to defend from his flawless ATP Final win in Turin last year.

Alcaraz was injured at the back end of last year, so he could claim additional points by entering the ATP 500 event in Basel, but this defeat means he will need to win Paris and the ATP finals to have a chance to knock Djokovic off the top spot in the rankings.

Alcaraz has confirmed his drive to take the year-end world No 1 ranking away from Djokovic is on his mind every time he steps on court, but this defeat may well have ended his realistic hopes of achieving that goal.