Carlos Alcaraz has withdraw from the Madrid Open in a possible blow to his French Open hopes. The Spaniard’s start to the clay court season and his preparation for Roland Garros have been thrown into disarray by an adductor injury.
Alcaraz suffered the problem in his straight-sets defeat against Holger Rune in the Barcelona Open final. He initially hoped that he would be able to play in Madrid but has now decided to withdraw after tests showed the extent of the injury. Spanish reports claimed this morning that there are doubts over the tennis star’s participation in the Italian Open at the start of May, although the world No. 3 is yet to confirm whether he will take part.
“I wanted to play here, but we’ve decided not to take any risks,” Alcaraz revealed in Madrid.
“As you all suspected, since I haven’t been able to train these days, the physio came in for the Barcelona final to treat my abductor muscle, but I also noticed something else in my left leg. On Tuesday, I had tests, and I assessed with my team to see if we could play in good condition in Madrid, and we did everything possible, but things didn’t improve much.
“You have to listen to your body. Madrid is a city I look forward to playing all year. It’s an exciting tournament, and I play it with a lot of emotion, but things didn’t go the way I wanted to play here. In the end, we decided not to take any risks, as I was going to be more than I expected. I’ll try to rest and recover so I can be back on the court as soon as possible.”
It comes after Alcaraz said following his 7-6 6-2 reverse against Rune: “I feel fine physically. I’ve had tests, and we’ll see what the results say. I’m used to playing with discomfort, so let’s hope I can play and enjoy Madrid.”
There is reportedly hope that he will be fit for the French Open, which begins on May 25. The Italian Open, which starts on May 6, could be less likely.
Having received a bye to the Madrid Open second round as a seeded player, Alcaraz was due to play his first match tomorrow. He was scheduled to play the winner of Zizou Bergs vs Gabriel Diallo, but Polish star Kamil Majchrzak will now take his place in the draw.
Alcaraz has endured a largely difficult year. He was beaten by Novak Djokovic in the Australian Open quarter-final and his form since then has been inconsistent. There was also a defeat in the semi-final of Indian Wells against British star Jack Draper, who went on to win the tournament. His two titles this year have come at the Rotterdam Open and the Monte-Carlo Masters.
The four-time Grand Slam champion had only won one tournament by this point last year, having triumphed at Indian Wells. A maiden French Open followed before he successfully defended his Wimbledon crown in another epic showdown with Djokovic.