Carlos Alcaraz is widely recognised as one of the two best players on the ATP Tour, alongside his great rival, Jannik Sinner.
The Spaniard and Italian have won the last eight available Grand Slams combined, dominating the ATP Tour for the best part of two years.
The pair look set to continue their dominance for the foreseeable future; Novak Djokovic is in the twilight of his career, and there seems to be no current viable contender who can challenge Alcaraz and Sinner.
Both Alcaraz and Sinner are now absent from the Shanghai Masters; Alcaraz withdrew after winning the Japan Open, and Sinner retired from his round of 32 contest against Tallon Griekspoor on Sunday.
However, for all of Carlos Alcaraz’s success, he has never managed to achieve one particular statistical feat at Masters 1000 events.
Carlos Alcaraz has never reached the round of 16 at seven Masters 1000s in one season
Reliable tennis blogger and journalist Mario Boccardi has revealed a rather alarming statistic regarding Carlos Alcaraz’s success at Masters 1000 tournaments.
As per Boccardi, there are seven players who have reached the round of 16 at seven different Masters 1000 events in a season in the 2020s.
Jannik Sinner has achieved the feat three times, in 2022, 2023 and 2024.
Stefanos Tsitsipas, Daniil Medvedev, Andrey Rublev, Grigor Dimitrov, Alexander Zverev and Alex de Minaur have all achieved the total one time each.
Remarkably, Alcaraz has never achieved this feat.
The closest he came to doing so was in 2023, when he reached the round of 16 at six Masters 1000 tournaments.
After withdrawing from the Shanghai Masters, Alcaraz will be unable to complete the feat this season. He has reached five rounds of 16 at Masters 1000 events this year, and only one Masters 1000 event remains: the Paris Masters.
Carlos Alcaraz’s next ATP tournament
Carlos Alcaraz’s next ATP tournament is scheduled to take place towards the end of October.
The Spaniard is expected to participate in the Paris Masters, the last Masters 1000 event of the year.
Alcaraz has never reached the final in Paris. In 2024, Alcaraz won one match before losing to Ugo Humbert in the round of 16.
The Spaniard then participated in the ATP Tour Finals, where he failed to make it out of the group stage.
