Carlos Alcaraz still has plenty of work to do before he ends his 2026 season.

The Spaniard is in the semifinals of the Vienna Open, where he will play Daniil Medvedev for a chance to reach the final of the ATP 500 tournament.

Following the Vienna Open, Alcaraz is set to play the Paris Masters for the fifth time in his career and the draw has already been made for the tournament, which begins on November 2nd.

Thanks to his number two seeding, Alcaraz has received a bye into the second round, but that looks to be the only respite he will receive at the Masters tournaments.

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Alcaraz looks set to play Jiri Lehecka in the second round of the Paris event, who has already proved himself against top 10 players this season.

Lehecka has beaten Taylor Fritz, Ben Shelton, and Lorenzo Musetti already this year and, at a current ranking of world No 17, he will provide a very tough test for the Spaniard.

He could also play Matteo Berrettini, whose indoor record speaks for itself, and Taylor Fritz, who is looking to qualify for the ATP Finals at the end of the year.

Carlos Alcaraz’s likely route to the Paris Masters title

- R1 – bye

- R2 – Jiri Lehecka

- R3 – Matteo Berrettini

- QF – Taylor Fritz

- SF – Daniil Medvedev

- F – Alexander Zverev

With potential latter stage matches against Daniil Medvedev and Alexander Zverev, it’s a very tough draw for the Spaniard at a tournament he is not tended to perform very well at.

In his five appearances at the Paris Masters over the years, Alcaraz’s best effort at the tournament is a quarterfinal appearance in 2022.

Since then, he’s been knocked out of the second or third round since, in what has become one of his more difficult tournaments on the ATP Tour.

He’s suffered a litany of strange defeats at the tournament too, including to the likes of Cameron Norrie, Hugo Gaston, and Roman Safiullin.

The players to beat Carlos Alcaraz at the Paris Masters

- 2021: Hugo Gaston

- 2022: Holger Rune (Alcaraz retired)

- 2023: Roman Safiullin

- 2024: Ugo Humbert

- 2025: Cameron Norrie

Alcaraz has only picked up five victories in his five appearances at the tournament, which is incredibly out of character for the seven-time Grand Slam champion.

He only has a 50% winnning rate at the tournament, which makes it statistically his joint-worst performing Masters tournament of the nine on the ATP Tour calendar.

With a difficult draw, and an even tougher history at the tournament, Alcaraz could be in for a very worrying time as the 2026 season draws to a close.