SHANGHAI — World No. 39 Zizou Bergs delivered the biggest win of his career on Monday, stunning seven-time Grand Slam winner and world No. 3 Carlos Alcaraz 7-5, 7-6 (7-4) in the third round of the Shanghai Masters, then offered a blunt rebuttal to the Spaniard's complaints about the balls.
The reigning Australian Open champion was overheard telling his team "I can't play like this" during the match and expanded afterward on the conditions. "It's weird that in just two days it can feel that I can feel the court, feel the conditions way different," Alcaraz said, later adding, "Today the ball was bigger and it was a little bit slower. I don't know why."
Bergs disagreed, noting the balls were identical to those used at the previous tournament, the Japan Open, which Alcaraz won for his first trophy since returning from a four-month layoff due to a wrist injury. "Balls are completely the same obviously as the last tournament. It's not an issue with the balls," Bergs said. "I do think sometimes there is a little wrong bounce on the court that happens from time to time. It's definitely there. I noticed in the warm-up that this can happen sometimes. Maybe one of the 10 or 20 shots you have it can be a bad bounce. But I think the court and the balls are in general very good."
The Belgian marked the upset by writing "what just happened" on the camera, later explaining his muted celebration. "You know, Carlos is a hell of a name, and for me it's been a little struggle," Bergs said. "You see these big players on TV, also in the past, you know, [Novak] Djokovic, Rafa [Nadal], you have the chance to play them, and then you can play them, but you also have to be ready to beat them. I've always been like, Ah, too much respect for them. So that's why, when it happened, it was more I was so much in the moment still that I hadn't too much energy to celebrate like crazy. I was just more like, 'Oh, what the hell's going on?' So that's why I wrote down, like, what happens."
The defeat continues another disappointing run in Shanghai for Alcaraz, who arrived after lifting the Japan Open title but could not adjust to conditions he described as slower and different from his opening match.