World number one Carlos Alcaraz admitted he had “no feeling at all” for the ball after suffering a stunning opening-round defeat at the Paris Masters on Tuesday. The 22-year-old Spaniard lost 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 to 31st-ranked Briton Cameron Norrie.

Alcaraz, a six-time Grand Slam champion, has yet to win the Paris Masters in five attempts. With this early exit, he now risks losing his top ranking if rival Jannik Sinner goes on to win the tournament.

After a three-week break from competition due to an ankle injury that forced him to skip the Shanghai Masters, Alcaraz said he had arrived in Paris in good form.

“I had a lot of practices here, I was feeling great, moving well on the court, hitting the ball,” he said.
“But today, even in the first set, which I won, I felt like I could do much more than I did. I tried to improve in the second set, but it was the opposite — I felt even worse.”

Just like during his Roland Garros campaign earlier this season, Alcaraz suffered a mid-match slump, but this time he was unable to recover.

“I didn’t feel well today. A lot of mistakes… I had no feeling at all,” he said.
“I’m really disappointed with my level today, but it is what it is.”

Alcaraz did, however, credit his opponent for taking advantage of the opportunities presented.

“I have to give credit to Cam. He didn’t let me stay in or come back into the match. Norrie played really great tennis.”

Norrie rose to the occasion on the 17,500-capacity center court at La Défense Arena, reveling in a victory over the world number one.

“Such a special win to beat probably the most confident player in the world right now,” said former world number eight Norrie.
“I told myself before the match, even if I get into a winning scenario, I’m not going to be afraid to win. I stayed true to that.”

Norrie’s shot-making drew repeated gasps from the crowd. Twice in the opening exchanges, Alcaraz could only watch in admiration as Norrie executed a full-stretch passing shot and a perfectly-placed lob while sprinting toward the baseline.

As Alcaraz’s first serve and backhand faltered, Norrie maintained his composure, breaking at 3-3 in the decider and earning two match points. The first saw Norrie’s backhand brush the net cord twice before narrowly falling in his favor.

Reflecting on past encounters, Norrie recalled a tense victory over Alcaraz in Rio 2023:

“I was 40-30 serving for the match, hit the T, and said, ‘I’m going T again.’ I hit the spot and he missed the return. It was a nice moment.”

Elsewhere at the Paris Masters, US fourth seed Taylor Fritz advanced safely to the third round with a 7-6(4), 6-2 win over Australian qualifier Aleksandar Vukic.