Carlos Alcaraz was asked whether he feels he is the favourite to win the ATP Finals for the first time following his victory at the 2026 Paris Masters.
The seven-time Grand Slam champion downed world No 4 Ben Shelton 7-6(5), 7-5 in the final at the Masters 1000 event on Sunday to secure his third and biggest title on indoor hard courts.
World No 3 Alcaraz will enter the season-ending ATP Finals in Turin on a nine-match win streak as he captured the Vienna Open title prior to Paris.
Here is everything the 23-year-old Spanish star said in his press conference after the Paris Masters final.
Q. Carlitos, well done. How special is it to win again in Paris, a different tournament?
ALCARAZ: Well, it’s always special, as I said, playing here in Paris. I would say the crowd is amazing every time that I come here. Even if it’s playing French Open, you know, or here, it’s always great. So for me it’s really special that finally I just got to play great tennis. You know, I go far in the end of the tournament, lifting the trophy at the end, playing for them, as well. It’s been a really special and a great week for me.
Q. You seemed to have a lot of extra determination, perhaps, this week. You saved the match points against Fritz, and at the end, you seemed quite emotional to win this. How determined were you to win this tournament?
ALCARAZ: Well, I always try to improve myself. I always try to be better, learn from experiences, learn from every match, every moment, and from that, trying to be better. I would say Taylor’s match, I got a lot of information. I got a lot to learn. I got a lot to improve if I really want to still winning this tournament. What I realise is that I really want to have to go for it all the time, have the determination to go for it in, I would say even more, in the toughest moment. Yeah, I’m just happy that, you know, I saved that moment against Taylor. After that, I would say I have been playing great tennis. I always was myself on the court, which I’m really happy. I’m proud of doing that.
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Q. Obviously Ben has a huge serve. How did you manage to win so many points behind his first serve today?
ALCARAZ: Well, I tried to be focused. I tried to be focused, on, you know, his serve, and after that, I knew that I was going to run a lot, because, you know, the first, I would say, two shots after his serve, he’s going to be really defensive for me. Because I felt like he always is in a position to attack after that serve, because it’s really difficult to dominate that ball. It’s not coming only fast. It’s coming with a lot of power, let’s say. So it makes it even more difficult to control the ball. So I don’t know. I knew that at the beginning I was trying to be focused, and the reaction was good for me, which I’m going to take that.
Q. Carlos, going in 10 days’ time or so is the year-end Finals. Do you go in feeling you are the favourite to win that for the first time?
ALCARAZ: Well, I mean, let’s see. You know, the matches were real close for me in this tournament. All I can say is I’m feeling really comfortable. I’m improving, you know, on this surface and in the courts. So let’s see. I’m going to go to Turin, going to try to do the same things that I have been doing, always going forward, trying to still improving, to still evolving my game. Let’s see. If I’m the favourite or not or I feel the favourite or not, to be honest, it is not in my hand or I don’t really want to take that in my hand and not think about it. Just going there, play my tennis, trying to enjoy, and try to play good tennis. So I’m going to leave it to the people if they see me as a favourite or not.
Q. Now that you’ve won the four Grand Slams, how important would it be for you to win the ATP Finals? It’s probably the biggest trophy that you are missing. How important would it be for you?
ALCARAZ: Well, obviously the ATP Finals is, you know, the best eight players in the world. It is a really important tournament for everybody. That’s what we are working for and making a really good position to start the year the best that we can, and playing during the whole year the best that we can to qualify to that tournament. So that means, you know, we just put extra motivation, extra energy to come into that tournament. So as I said openly, this is a tournament that I really want to win one day. I don’t know if it’s gonna be this year, next year, if I ever gonna be able to win this tournament, but I’m gonna work hard. I’m going to believe that I can do that, and, you know, I’m going to go this year with a lot of confidence, with a lot of information in my bag to the things that I really wanted to improve and be better on that tournament, and I’m going to go for it, for sure.
Q. Congrats. In terms of overall level and competitiveness, do you consider it’s your best week since you’re back at the US Open?
ALCARAZ: Well, probably. Probably my best week. Yeah, in terms of tennis, you know, I can match it with Vienna that I feel really comfortable in terms of tennis. But I would say this one, this week, I make one step forward mentally. I had a lot of really tough moments. I’m not saying match point down, but, you know, during the matches, I faced important and really tough moments internally, fighting with myself, trying to be positive, trying to stay strong mentally, and not letting those negative thoughts put into the game. And I’m just really happy that I just control my emotions, control my thoughts every moment, every single match. So for me, I made one step forward to that, but, you know, probably these two last weeks has been the best that I ever played since my comeback.
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