Alcaraz about his absence at the Barcelona Open: “I’m not used to crying, but...”
The world No. 3 player opened up about his withdrawal from the ATP 500 event and admitted that his absence affected him more than usual.
Carlos Alcaraz is dealing with one of the toughest moments of his career. The 20-year-old superstar hasn’t played any official tournament since he featured in Miami due to a forearm injury that has prevented him from hitting the ball normally.
The Murcia native was very motivated to play again on clay, as the start of the season didn’t go as he expected in Buenos Aires and Rio de Janeiro, where he was the No. 1 favorite to go all the way.
The current Indian Wells champion started feeling pain when hitting the ball during practice ahead of the Monte Carlo Masters and decided to withdraw from the tournament. He expected to be ready for the Spanish tour, as he is the defending champion in Barcelona and Madrid but Carlitos couldn’t recover in time and compete in Barcelona.
“I really wanted to play at the Barcelona Open. My group of friends had already made reservations to come see me play. Except in Barcelona and Madrid, they never see me. I waited a whole year to get here. I don’t usually cry about these things, but Sunday was very hard”, he said to the Catalan newspaper La Vanguardia.
Alcaraz, focused on Sinner
Besides analyzing his current moment, the two-time major champion spoke about the future and his opponents. Although Novak Djokovic is the world No. 1 and the player with the most Grand Slam events titles (24), the Murcia native admitted his hardest opponent in the upcoming years will be Jannik Sinner.
“He is the opponent I’m more focused on, the player to beat. Right now he is the best in the world”, Alcaraz explained.
“I’m going to share my entire career with him, so I’m trying to improve in each practice session and do things that can hurt him and may bother him in the games. Sinner is the one who’s making me grow as a player”, he added.
“Djokovic and Medvedev are also there, but in terms of age and ranking, it’s Sinner. In 2023 I already said that this year he was going to win a Grand Slam event and he was going to be No. 1. He already has a major and he is the world’s No. 2 so he’s only one spot away from being on top”.
While his fans hope to see Alcaraz return to action in the Madrid Open, he remained cautious and admitted that he doesn’t still know if he will be ready to compete in the Spanish capital.