He did, however, get off to the worst possible start, with Alcaraz losing 1-6, 5-7 in his group stage opener against Casper Ruud.

Alcaraz will now aim to recover against Andrey Rublev, with the world number three then meeting world number two Alexander Zverev in his final group match.

Zverev recently overtook Alcaraz in the ATP rankings, with the duo having been drawn together in the John Newcombe Group in Turin.

ATP Finals star Carlos Alcaraz names his three sporting idols

World number one Jannik Sinner meanwhile is in the Ilie Nastase Group alongside Daniil Medvedev, Taylor Fritz and Alex de Minaur.

Sinner beat De Minaur in their opener, with Alcaraz now needing plenty of motivation to get his ATP Finals back on track.

Fortunately he has three superb idols to turn to, with the Spanish star having revealed his sporting inspirations to the ATP Tour before the tournament got underway.

READ MORE: ATP Finals 2024: How to watch, prize money, dates, predictions and everything you need to know

“Firstly, I would choose Rafael Nadal,” said Alcaraz. “In my family, at home, we always watch tennis. My father was a player when he was young, and there was only tennis on the TV. Rafa was Spanish and the way he played, the way he behaved, inspired me a lot. That is why he is my idol.

“I love Cristiano Ronaldo. The confidence he has is unbelievable. He always believes in himself. When I hear he is the first player to go to training and the last one to go home, that shows the hard worker he is and that inspires me a lot.

“And then Michael Jordan as well. I watched many videos from him. I watched the Netflix series from him. His mentality is one of the best mentalities we have in sport.”

How many Grand Slam titles have Rafael Nadal and Carlos Alcaraz won?

Alcaraz will have certainly learned a lot from Ronaldo and Jordan, but he will have undoubtedly gained the most from Nadal, who he has played both against and alongside.

The Spanish legend has been a superb role model for Alcaraz, with the younger of the pair now unquestionably eager to follow in his footsteps.

READ MORE: Everything you need to know about Rafael Nadal as the 14-time French Open winner announces retirement

Nadal will retire from tennis after the Davis Cup Finals later this month, where both he and Alcaraz will represent Spain in Malaga.

The 21-year-old will then try and take on the mantle once his hero calls time on his career, although that is a near-impossible task.

Nadal boasts a stunning 22 Grand Slam titles, two ahead of fellow legend Roger Federer and two behind all-time leader Novak Djokovic.

Alcaraz is, however, going about things the right way, with the youngster already on four major titles, two of which arrived this year.

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