Parallels between teenage Rafael Nadal and Carlos Alcaraz continue after the latter's ATP Tour Finals withdrawal

World No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz has frequently been compared to tennis great Rafael Nadal, not only because they are both natives of the same country but also because of their similar achievements at a very young age.

Friday's 2022 Paris Masters quarterfinal encounter between Carlos Alcaraz and Holger Rune saw another similarity in Nadal and Alcaraz's careers. The young Spaniard withdrew during the second set of the match owing to an abdominal injury which will take at least six weeks to recover from.

The 19-year-old later announced his withdrawal from the ATP Finals and the Davis Cup Finals, thus ending his 2022 season. He took to Twitter and wrote:

"Unfortunately I won't make the ATP Finals or the Davis Cup Finals. It is tough and painful for me to miss these two events, which are so important to me, but all I can do is be positive and focus on my recovery. Thank you for the support!"

Interestingly, 19-year-old Rafael Nadal also withdrew from the 2005 ATP Finals, then known as the Tennis Masters Cup, due to a serious foot injury he suffered during his final match in Madrid against Ivan Ljubicic, which he eventually won. Thus, both the Spaniards missed out on the opportunity to participate in their maiden ATP Finals.

Carlos Alcaraz is the youngest Spaniard to win an ATP Tour title since Rafael Nadal and is also the youngest player to represent Spain at the Davis Cup since Nadal.

Besides this, Alcaraz brought up his fifth win against a top-10 player around the same age as Nadal and also became the youngest match-winner at the Madrid Masters, breaking the 22-time Grand Slam champion's record.

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Rafael Nadal and Carlos Alcaraz made history as the world's top 2 players

Alcaraz and Nadal pictured at the Madrid Open.

Earlier in September, Carlos Alcaraz and Rafael Nadal became the first Spaniards to be ranked first and second in the ATP rankings, thus inscribing their names into tennis history.

This was also the first time in 22 years that two players from the same country topped the rankings.

At the age of 19 years, four months and six days, Carlos Alcaraz became the youngest No. 1 in ATP history after taking home the maiden Grand Slam of his career at the US Open in September.

Nadal, meanwhile, returned to the top two in the rankings for the first time since May 2021. Casper Ruud, the former No. 2 in the world, lost to Yoshihito Nishioka in the Korea Open quarterfinals, allowing Nadal to move up to second as a result.