Carlos Alcaraz suffered a surprising early exit at the Miami Open, interrupting what had been a strong start to his season.

The world number one was beaten by Sebastian Korda in three sets in the third round of the ATP Masters 1000 event. It was just his second defeat of the season.

Speaking in an episode of ‘Off Court with Greg’, Rusedski said: “I think with Alcaraz, he’s played a little bit too much tennis. You look at the end of the season, he didn’t really have an offseason.

“He played a lot of exhibitions in America, he went to the one in Korea before the Australian Open, then he played in Doha as well.

“So he’s played all the way from the end of the year, finishing number one, to continuing on the merry-go-round.

“And when you play too much tennis, I hate to say it, but you get a little stale, you get a little bit bored, it’s difficult being week in, week out on the road.

“That’s where Federer was a maestro. That’s why he had such a long career and had so much dominance. He’d only played 12 events, and then he’d win seven of them, and he’d be fresh every event he played.

Alcaraz remains focused on this year’s calendar Grand Slam bid after winning his first title at Melbourne Park. The next major is scheduled for May 20th – June 9th at Roland Garros.

Alcaraz is facing a busy clay stretch as Sinner closes the gap

Sinner’s run to the Miami Open final has tightened things up in the rankings, with Alcaraz now on 13,590 points following his early exit and Sinner able to reach 12,400 if he lifts the title.

Alcaraz is not only protecting his place at the top of the rankings but also a huge number of points. He’s defending 4,330 from last season’s clay swing, where he won Monte Carlo, Rome and Roland Garros, and finished runner-up in Barcelona.

By contrast, Sinner didn’t play Monte-Carlo or Barcelona last year, giving him a good opportunity to gain ground. Alcaraz will have very little room for error during this stretch if he wants to hold onto number one.

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