Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz's dream run in 2022 earned him the ATP Number One Trophy for achieving his career-best, number-one ranking. The tennis star was awarded the trophy at the Paris Masters tournament in the French capital by ATP Chairman Andrea Gaudenzi on Monday.
Carlos Alcaraz had a season that will go down in history to be remembered. One of its key moments was when the Spaniard broke the record for the youngest World No. 1 in ATP Rankings history.
The tennis sensation expressed his happiness to have won the trophy and stated that it means a lot to him and added that it's like a dream come true for him.
"For me it's a dream come true being No. 1 in the world, to be a Grand Slam champion. I feel like the No. 1, and to have this trophy, it means a lot to me, " Alcaraz said as quoted by ATP Tour.
Alcaraz is one of the 28 athletes to reach World No. 1 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings. He achieved it after winning his first major championship at the US Open.
"Everything has come so fast. I didn't think at the beginning of the year that I'm going to have the year that I'm having right now. I always believe in my team and in my work, so this is something that came with the hard work that I put in every day, the hard preseason, the work during the year with my team. Everything pays off," said Alcaraz.
The teenager, who is this week's top seed in Paris, will face left-handed Yoshihito Nishioka of Japan in the second round. Alcaraz will make his debut at the Nitto ATP Finals, where he will compete for the honour of being the youngest year-end World No. 1 in history.
Novak Djokovic will also be in action on Tuesday for the second-round match in the French capital against Maxime Cressy on Court Central. The match will mark the start of Djokovic's quest for a record-extending eighth Rolex Paris Masters victory.
The sixth-seeded Serbian has consistently fared well at the season-ending ATP Masters 1000 tournament, winning the title in each of his previous two appearances in 2019 and 2021.
In other matches, Dane Holger Rune will face Swiss great Stan Wawrinka, while third-seeded Norwegian Casper Ruud will face French wild card Richard Gasquet. Ruud progressed to the Grand Slam finals at Roland Garros and the US Open after making it to the Miami final earlier this season.
Spanish Tennis star Rafael Nadal is also participating in the tournament and will be action in later.
( With inputs from ANI )
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