Carlos Alcaraz is ready to return to the tennis court this weekend at the Cincinnati Open, knowing that he has a lot to win. He only has 10 points to defend in Cincinnati, after being eliminated in first round last summer, and 50 points to defend in the US Open, after losing in second round, whereas his rival Jannik Sinner defends 3,000 ATP points between both tournaments.
That means that the now seemingly huge 3,430 point difference between World No. 1 Sinner and World No. 2 Alcaraz will likely be shorter after the US Open. Even after the US Open, Sinner will be defending 2,500 points from Shanghai Masters and 1,500 points from ATP finals, while Alcaraz will only be defending 500 points from China.
That means that being World No. 1 at the end of the year is a real possibility for Alcaraz, who was last seen at the top of the rankings in September 2023. "Obviously a goal that I have in the matches and everything is just trying to recover No. 1 at the end of the year. So that is my goal in this second part of the year", he admitted to journalists in Cincinnati. However, he first said that his goal is the same it's always been: "To be happy, to enjoy my time on and off the court in the best tournaments that we have in the world."
Even after his Wimbledon defeat against Sinner, he said that he left the court that day "happy and proud, smiling just thinking, 'Okay, at some point I have to lose a Grand Slam final. Everyone did'. So just proud."
A very different mindset than last year's, when despite winning Roland Garros and Wimbledon back to back, he lost a gruelling final in Paris 2024 against Djokovic, which led to perhaps the longest bad streak of his career. He even broke his first racquet at his defeat against Monfils at Cincinnati, overpowered by frustration. One year later, he sounds much more confident and optimistic.