ATP Finals: Who will replace Carlos Alcaraz if he withdraws amid health fears?
There are concerns over Carlos Alcaraz’s participation at the 2024 ATP Finals due to his physical condition, but who will replace the Spaniard if he pulls out?
Alcaraz raised questions about his health ahead of the year-end championships after wearing a nose strip during a practice session.
The 21-year-old Spaniard was out of sorts in his 6-1, 7-5 defeat to world No 7 Casper Ruud in his first group stage match in Turin on Monday.
Following the surprise loss, Alcaraz confirmed he was feeling unwell having been sick since before he arrived at the event.
“Well, a few days before coming here, I got sick at home. And yeah, the days that I was practising here, I was feeling okay. Not pretty good, but okay,” the four-time Grand Slam champion explained.
“I could play. I could feel that I can get into the rallies in the practice. Obviously, in the matches is totally different. But today, I didn’t feel well.
“In this morning, I feel uncomfortable in the stomach. After long rallies today, I couldn’t feel well. I don’t want to, you know, say because I don’t want to sound like an excuse. But if I feel bad, I feel bad. It is what happened today.”
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Alcaraz is set to play Andrey Rublev in his second round robin match on Wednesday, but speculation grew today that he might withdraw after a worrying practice session in Turin.
The world No 3 cut short his training with sparring partner Andres Martin after just 10 minutes having noticeably struggled with his breathing throughout.
If Alcaraz does decide to pull out before his match with Rublev, Grigor Dimitrov will take his place in the John Newcombe Group and face the Russian on Wednesday. The Bulgarian would also play Alexander Zverev in the final round robin fixture.
Dimitrov is the first alternate at the ATP Finals as he finished the Race to Turin in 10th place, one below Alex de Minaur — who took the final qualification spot. Novak Djokovic finished sixth, but he pulled out ahead of the event through injury.
The second alternate is Stefanos Tsitsipas, who finished 11th in the Race, so the the Greek could enter the tournament in the event of a second group stage withdrawal.
If Alcaraz plays, he will almost certainly need to win his two remaining matches to have a chance of progressing to the semi-finals.
Dimitrov, meanwhile, would have to win both matches to have any chance of making the last four if he did take the Spaniard’s spot before the Rublev match.
The 33-year-old won the ATP Finals with a 5-0 record on his only previous appearance at the event in 2017.
Tsitsipas also won the year-end championships on his debut in 2019.
