Carlos Alcaraz remains in the main draw for the Madrid Open, but he still hasn’t been given the all-clear to defend his title with doubts persisting over his forearm.
The two-time Grand Slam winner has not competed since losing in straight sets against Grigor Dimitrov the quarter-final of the Miami Open at the end of March.
He was schedule to play in the Monte Carlo Masters, but on the eve of his second-round match he withdrew due to an “injured pronator teres in the right arm” and he subsequently also skipped his title defence at the Barcelona Open this week due to the same problem.
However, word coming from the Alcaraz camp is that the injury is not too serious with scans giving him the all-clear, the Spaniard “noticed more and more discomfort” in Barcelona and opted to withdraw.
As for his Madrid prospects, he stated: “I don’t want to rush, I don’t want to say that I will be 100% in Madrid, although that is my intention.”
The world No 3 has been working with his physiotherapist Juanjo Moreno at the Ferrero Tennis Academy the past week.
According to journalist German R. Abril, “will test sensations this weekend in the capital of Spain to find out if he will be able to defend the @MutuaMadridOpen title next week”.
The 20-year-old is set to travel to Madrid later on Sunday and his first training session at Caja Mágica will only be confirmed once he touches down in the capital.
Alcaraz has 1,000 points to defend at the ATP Masters event and he could drop to No 4 in the ATP Rankings behind Novak Djokovic, Jannik Sinner and Daniil Medvedev if he fails to compete.
The Madrid Open is also the penultimate big event before the French Open with only the Italian Open still to come with the Rome event getting underway on May 8.
Esteemed tennis coach and analyst Paul Annacone has admitted in recent weeks that Alcaraz’s injury problems is becoming a concern.
“Yeah, it’s starting to get a little disconcerting. There’s plenty of time leading into the French Open. But just, whenever you see young players that start to get injured a lot, it just makes me worried a little bit,” he told the Tennis Channel.
“And obviously this kid’s a tremendous athlete and let’s just hope that this injury gets out of him very quickly. But look, two tournaments — that’s a significant loss.”
