Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner shake hands in Indian Wells
Ivan Ljubicic has identified reasons for the injuries that affected Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz at the Madrid Open and have forced the pair to pull out of Rome.
The former world No 3 warned that Sinner’s injury is “important and not to be underestimated” despite not being “serious”, while he also addressed the high number of retirements in Madrid.
Sinner and Alcaraz will both miss the upcoming Italian Open due to injury issues, having both been hampered physically in Madrid.
The Italian is dealing with a hip injury that forced him to withdraw from his Madrid Open quarter-final match against Felix Auger-Aliassime.
Sinner announced on Saturday that he would not be able to compete at his home tournament next week due to the same problem.
“It is not easy to write this message but after speaking again with the doctors and specialists about my hip problems I have to announce that unfortunately I will not be able to play in Rome,” wrote the world No 2.
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“Obviously I’m very sad that I didn’t recover, it being one of my favourite tournaments ever. I couldn’t wait to come back and play at home in front of the Italian crowd.
Carlos Alcaraz, meanwhile, is suffering from a right arm injury that caused him to delay the start of his clay season by pulling out of the Monte Carlo Masters and the Barcelona Open.
The world No 3 was beaten by Andrey Rublev in the quarter-finals in Madrid and admitted his arm issue affected him during the event.
The men’s tournament at the 2024 Madrid Open has been plagued by injuries, with Daniil Medvedev, Jiri Lehecka and Jakub Mensik all retiring hurt during matches to add to Sinner’s withdrawal.
In an interview with Sky Sport 24, Ljubicic highlighted the transition from hard courts to clay and the heavier balls as potential factors in Sinner and Alcaraz’s respective injuries.
“The change of surface from concrete to ground, where you slip, is a problem for those who have hip pain like Sinner, or the balls are heavier because they take moisture from the ground, putting more stress on the elbow and arm, as happened to Carlos Alcaraz,” said the Croatian.
“Players move more and more and hit harder and at a certain point the body tells them enough is enough. Jannik’s problem is not serious, but important and not to be underestimated.”
Ljubicic, a former coach of tennis great Roger Federer, also suggested the fact that three huge tournaments are approaching could partly explain the withdrawals in Madrid.
“The Roland Garros is upon us, Wimbledon is around the corner and the Olympics immediately after,” he continued.
“We saw how many withdrawals there were in Madrid, let’s say that the players at this stage of the season are more sensitive than usual and attentive to what their body tells them.”
