Carlos Alcaraz points finger after Paris Masters surprise exit to home star Ugo Humbert

Carlos Alcaraz quickly turned his attention to the Paris Masters playing surface as he blamed the conditions for his defeat at the hands of Ugo Humbert.

The French No. 1 put on a show for the Bercy crowd and gave Alcaraz quite the fright on Halloween, blitzing the first set 6-1, before splitting the next two as Humbert came out on top 7-5 in the decider.

But the reigning French Open and Wimbledon champion has become the latest player to blast the quick court as his dismal record at the final Masters 1000 of the season continued.

Alcaraz, who once went two years without a win at the tournament, lamented what he described as the “fastest court on tour” and was left baffled by the Paris Masters organisers for their decision.

Alcaraz complained: “This court. I mean, I don’t want to say something that there is going to sound like an excuse. You know, first of all, Ugo deserves to win, that’s obvious. But it depends. Because I play, for example, the Davis Cup indoor court, and the court was way slower than this one.

“So, I mean, when I played the first match, the stats came out that it is the fastest court in the Masters 1000, probably on the tour right now. This is crazy. I don’t know. Probably the fastest one in the last ten years in this tournament.

“So I don’t know why they do it. I don’t know why they have changed a lot, you know, a court from other tournaments and obviously in the same tournament, comparing to other years.

“So it surprised me a little bit, so I came here with not too many days. Probably I had to come earlier to get used to these conditions but I didn’t. But, you know, honestly all I can say is I don’t understand why they did it.”

Humbert is into the Paris Masters quarter-finals for just the second time in his career though after taking advantage of the conditions, where he will face Australian star Jordan Thompson.

And Alcaraz was full of praise for his opponent who utilised the electric home support in Bercy and could adapt to the conditions. When asked if he was surprised with Humbert’s level, the Spanish star replied: “Well, not really. I mean, it is very difficult to play in these conditions.

“For me, for my level, I try to change up as much as I can to this court, to this speed. I thought that it suits pretty well to my game, but it doesn’t.

“When I play against someone like Ugo that he doesn’t let you, you know, get rhythm into the match, he plays probably, every time at his 100 per cent, really flat. So I couldn’t play good tennis.

“You know, I practise at home but it isn’t the same… So I’m not surprised about my level, about my game, but I’m surprised about everything a little bit.”