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“When you play against the world No 1 on a big stage, big crowd, the fire inside gives you so much power to play your best tennis because you don’t have any choice. You have to fight and give your best and that was the case today. I always believed I had it and I am happy you can still it there.”
Alcaraz is still 930 points clear of world No 2 Nadal, though the 19-year-old has 280 points to defend for the rest of the year while Nadal has none after he shut down his 2021 season early with a foot injury. The world No 1 will next play the ATP 500 in Basel before the final Masters 1000 of the year in Paris-Bercy, and he will then make his ATP Finals debut in Turin after qualifying for the first time.
The six-time title winner has 10 points from last year’s Indian Wells Masters coming off his ranking in two weeks’ time after the event was played in October last year instead of its usual March slot. He then has 180 points to defend from his 2021 Vienna semi-final during the week of Basel, and 90 from the Paris Masters.
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