Carlos Alcaraz bemoans 'slippery' courts at Paris Masters as ATP serves up fastest hardcourt Masters 1000 surface of the year

Carlos Alcaraz has given his views on his experience of playing on the indoor hardcourts of the 2024 Paris Masters. The Spaniard believes that employing slower courts would've been better for both the players and fans, and he also maintained that they have been slippery this year.

Having received a first-round bye, Alcaraz began his campaign at the final ATP Masters 1000 tournament of the year in style as he downed Nicolas Jarry 7-5, 6-1 to reach the third round on Tuesday (Oct. 29). The second seed will next face local favourite Ugo Humbert for a place in the quarterfinals.

Speaking to the media following his second-round win, Carlos Alcaraz claimed that he personally found the Centre Court of the Accor Arena — the venue for this year's Paris Masters — to be "very slippery". He also asserted that the fast speed of the court didn't allow lengthy rallies from the baseline.

"This court is very slippery. We have to get used to it, there is no other way. For tennis, for the spectators, not having so many exchanges is difficult," Carlos Alcaraz told the Spanish media. "I would have played it a little slower, to make it more exciting. Today I felt very good on the court. In these conditions, you have to put in more hours."

Earlier this week, American tennis journalist Gill Gross was questioned by an X user over an infographic that mentioned how the Court Pace Index (CPI) of the Paris Masters was the highest among all of the six hardcourt ATP Masters 1000 tournaments. Gross had classified Paris as slow on his 'Monday Match Analysis' segment.

According to the ITF, surfaces employed on the pro tour can be categorized into Fast, Medium-fast, Medium, Medium-slow and Slow. The CPI rating of a court is directly proportional to how fast the ball travels after the bounce; Paris Masters has a rating of 45.5, making it one of the fastest hardcourts in recent times.

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Carlos Alcaraz has been better on clay and grass than hardcourts in 2024

Carlos Alcaraz poses with the French Open trophy (Source: Getty)

Carlos Alcaraz has enjoyed another banner year on the ATP Tour, winning four titles and compiling a 52-10 win/loss record thus far. The 21-year-old reigned supreme at Wimbledon, the French Open, the Indian Wells Masters and the China Open.

For what it's worth, Alcaraz's performance on claycourts and grass-courts has been superior to that on hardcourts. On grass, the Spaniard defended his Wimbledon title with aplomb this year. And on clay, he notched some gutsy wins en route to his maiden Roland Garros title before winning silver in men's singles at the Paris Olympics.

However, that is not to say that Carlos Alcaraz was subpar on hardcourts this season, as he did win two titles on the surface. The World No. 2's results at the hardcourt Majors — the Australian Open and the US Open — paled in comparison to his two other triumphs, as he exited in the quarterfinals and the second round, respectively.