"I'm feeling different" - Carlos Alcaraz sends warning to rest of the pack at Paris Masters, dreams of rewriting poor record at tournament

Carlos Alcaraz hopes to break his title drought at the Paris Masters this year and appears ready to take on any opponent at the tour's last regular tournament. The Spaniard's best performance at the Masters 1000 tournament was a quarterfinal finish two years ago.

Alcaraz is seeded second at the 2024 Paris Masters and given a first-round bye. He is set to face either Nicolas Jarry or Lorenzo Sonego in the second round. Ahead of his campaign at the French capital, the four-time Grand Slam champion projected confidence.

In the pre-tournament press conference, Alcaraz acknowledged that he had not been at his best when competing at the Paris Masters in the past due to fatigue. However, he said he feels energized for this year's competition and prepared well to retain strength for the year's last regular tournament.

"I haven't played good tennis here in this tournament. Probably at the end of the year, I have been tired, or yeah, as I said last year, I had to understand that the season is still going after September," Alcaraz said.

"And I think I did prepare really well this year. So I don't know, you know. The calendar is super tight, super demanding, as well. So coming to the last tournament of the year, probably I have been tired the last year, didn't play as well as I wanted, but coming to this year, I think I'm feeling different."

Carlos Alcaraz has played at the Paris Masters three times in his career. He reached the third round in 2021, the quarterfinals in 2022, and suffered an upset loss to Roman Safiullin in the second round in 2023.

The Spaniard is eyeing a deep run at the 2024 edition and feels confident about his preparation for the tournament.

"I know what I have to do. I have been doing great work lately. So I think I'm ready to do good results or at least go farther than last year, that I think is not really difficult," Alcaraz added.

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Carlos Alcaraz set sights on fifth title of the year at Paris Masters 2024

Carlos Alcaraz (Source: Getty)

Carlos Alcaraz will be eyeing his fifth title of the year at the 2024 Paris Masters and a solid finish to the season heading into the ATP Finals. The Spaniard picked up his first silverware of the year at the Indian Wells Masters and went on to complete the Channel Slam. The 21-year-old won his maiden French Open title and defended his Wimbledon crown to take his Grand Slam tally to four.

Alcaraz made his Olympics debut at the 2024 Summer Games in Paris and took home the silver medal after coming up short against Novak Djokovic in the title contest. The Spaniard's next title came at the WTA 500 China Open in Beijing where he defeated World No. 1 Jannik Sinner.

After the Paris Masters, the former World No. 1 will make the journey to Turin to compete in the year-end championships for the second year in a row. Last year, he lost to Djokovic in the semifinals.