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Carlos Alcaraz has been told that he was \u201churt\u201d by losing a tight three-set final against Novak Djokovic at the Cincinnati Open. Since then, the world No 2 has suffered surprise early exits in Shanghai and Paris and his struggles carried into the ATP Finals where he lost his opening match to Alexander Zverev. But Alex Corretja believes the 20-year-old can use the season-ending championships to build a strong foundation for the 2024 season after a disappointing few weeks.<\/p>\n
Alcaraz\u2019s woes continued on Monday as he lost in his debut at the ATP Finals, going down 6-7(3) 6-3 6-4 to two-time champion Zverev. The Spaniard is now on a three-match losing streak, crashing out in his opening match at the Paris Masters and losing in the round-of-16 in Shanghai.<\/p>\n
He also had some disappointing defeats at the US Open and the ATP 500 in Beijing, losing at the semi-final stage of both events. And one of Alcaraz\u2019s compatriots believes that his marathon Cincinnati Open defeat to Djokovic could be the cause of his recent struggles.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think that Cincinnati final against Djokovic where he gave everything he had and ended up losing hurt him a little bit as he gave the biggest effort and he didn’t have the reward,\u201d former world No 2 Corretja told Eurosport. In that final, Djokovic saved a championship point to beat Alcaraz after three hours and 49 minutes.<\/p>\n
Click here to join our WhatsApp community to be the first to receive breaking and exclusive tennis news.<\/strong><\/p>\n Just in <\/strong> Emma Raducanu raises Australian Open doubts by withdrawing from exhibition event[LATEST] <\/strong><\/p>\n The 36-year-old looked down and out when he called the physio to have his pulse checked and receive some medicine. But he stormed back from a set down to win 5-7 7-6(7) 7-6(4). While Alcaraz hasn\u2019t been able to win a title since losing the dogfight Cincinnati final, Corretja still believes that he has had an \u201cincredible\u201d season and can start putting in the work for 2024.<\/p>\n The 49-year-old continued: \u201cHe went and won his first major on hard courts, then the biggest major for him on grass at Wimbledon. He just knocked down every barrier that he faced, and I think mentally he is ready.<\/p>\n \u201cNext year is going to be an amazing year for Alcaraz for sure, and we’ll see, because maybe the ATP Finals can give him this extra feeling again of doing something even bigger in 2023.\u201d Corretja won\u2019t be concerned if Alcaraz can\u2019t win the season-ending championships on his debut, however.<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/cdn.images.express.co.uk\/img\/dynamic\/72\/590x\/secondary\/Djokovic-Alcaraz-Cincinnati-5064099.jpg?r=1699895491996\")
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