Carlos Alcaraz not only had the best year of his entire professional career in tennis, but he clinched the World No.1 place of the Association of Tennis Professionals, as well. All of this thanks to his great performances over the world, as well as his first-ever Grand Slam championship win at the 2022 US Open. However, he won't enjoy the rest of the year on the tennis court, as he has withdrawn from the 2022 Next Gen ATP Finals.
When he won the final Grand Slam tournament of the year at the Billie Jean King Tennis Center, it was almost certain that the 19-year-old Spaniard will feature his best tennis at both the Next Gen ATP Finals in Milan, and the ATP Finals in Turin as the best player in the world. However, that won't be possible, due to his last performance at the 2022 Paris Masters.
However, this doesn't erase the wonderful year that Alcaraz had. As the youngest World No.1 in ATP history, the Spaniard has so much left to give yet, that if this isn't the year where he steps foot as the best male tennis player in the world, it will most likely be next year.
Why is World No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz not playing in the 2022 Next Gen ATP Finals?
During his Quaterfinals matchup against Holger Rune at the 2022 Paris Masters, Carlos Alcaraz suffered an injury in his abdomen. He will later confirmed via Twitter, this injury was more serious than expected. So, the final decision was to withdraw from the 2022 Next Gen ATP Finals. Not only because he is trying to recover as soon as possible, but he has the major ATP Finals coming up as well.
However he will most likely miss the chance to play his first-ever major ATP Finals tournament in Turin, Italy as the World No.1 of the Association of Tennis Professionals ranking, as well. His injury will leave him out of the tennis court at least for six weeks. Which means he will not be part of any other tennis tournament. Unless there's a miracle.
After 70 games played through the 2022 ATP Tour, Alcaraz will most likely be resting what's left of the year. However, he will be closely watching the ATP Finals in Turin as he could lose his World No.1 spot to either Rafael Nadal, if he doesn't withdraw as well, or to Stefano Tsitsitsipas depending on his overall perfomance in Turin.
