As he prepared for the Paris Masters, Carlos Alcaraz of Spain admitted that the record prize money offered at the Six Kings Slam in Saudi Arabia earlier this month was a driving force behind his participation in the competition.
Alcaraz’s opponent, Jannik Sinner, who won the competition, emphasized that he travelled to Riyadh for the sporting challenge and denied previous allegations that he participated in the event for the money. However, Alcaraz stated that the financial aspect had an influence in his participation.
With this, the young athlete said: “I love playing tennis. You know, most of the time I don’t think about the money. I just play for love or for fun. But you have to be realistic. You have to think that you want to earn money, you know, and that’s it…in Arabia is the most highest prize money ever in the history, so that was a good motivation, at least for me.”
Preparing for Paris Masters
In recent years, Alcaraz has not had much success at the Paris Masters. His best finish at the event was a quarter-final participation. He claimed that the season had been difficult despite winning the French Open and Wimbledon championships this year.
Alcaraz admitted: “I haven’t played good tennis here in this tournament. Probably at the end of the year, I have been tired, or yeah, as I said last year, I had to understand that the season is still going after September.”
He added: “The calendar is super tight, super demanding, as well. So coming to the last tournament of the year, probably I have been tired last year, didn’t play as well as I wanted, but coming to this year, I think I’m feeling different.”
Alcaraz will battle against Nicolas Jarry of Chile on Tuesday in the round of 32. The Paris Masters will run until November 3.
Source: CNA