Carlos Alcaraz played in Madrid and reached the quarterfinal but then his forearm issue was too much to overcome against Andrey Rublev.
Carlos Alcaraz made a telling revelation following his Madrid Masters exit as the Spanish tennis star shared that he was constantly thinking about whether or not he would “feel something” in his forearm when hitting shots.
After winning the Indian Wells Masters and being a Miami Masters quarterfinalist, Alcaraz suffered a setback at the start of the clay season when a forearm injury derailed his plans to start his clay season at the Monte Carlo Masters and Barcelona. Then, Alcaraz’s Madrid participation was also a doubt but the two-time Grand Slam champion managed to play.
In Madrid, Alcaraz started with pretty routine back-to-back straight-set wins over Alexander Shevchenko and Thiago Seyboth Wild but then just barely edged out Jan-Lennard Struff in a marathon three-setter. After surviving the Struff challenge, Alcaraz returned to the court on Wednesday – but this he wasn’t lucky enough to survive another three-setter – as Andrey Rublev upset the second-seeded Spaniard 4-6 6-3 6-2 in the Madrid quarterfinal.
“Well, I have to keep going. Right now here in Madrid, while every time that I’m hitting the forehand, I’m thinking about the forearm, if I’m getting a feeling or not,” Alcaraz said in his press conference after his Madrid exit.
“I have to work hard these days if I want to go to Rome with good feelings, without pain, without thinking about my forearm, but it’s gonna be a slow process, I guess. I have to be patient in that way. But right now I leave Madrid with good feelings in the forearm, but I have to do good work.”
Carlos Alcaraz: I felt my forearm more against Rublev
As mentioned above, Alcaraz fairly easily got through his opening two matches in Madrid. But even after those wins, Alcaraz was saying that he was cautious not to aggravate his injury.
But then in the Madrid round-of-16, Alcaraz appeared to be hampered more by the forearm issue. Still, Alcaraz managed to scrape past the Struff test but after his forearm started giving him even more troubles the following day, there was just no way for the former world No. 1 to beat Rublev.
Shortly after winning the first set, Alcaraz found himself 0-3 down in the second set. After clinching an early second-set break, Rublev held on to his serve for the remainder of the set to send the match into a decider.
Just like the second set, the third set also started with Rublev claiming an early break and opening a 2-0 lead. In the fifth game, Rublev broke Alcaraz again to go up by a double break and the Russian then didn’t have any issues closing out the match.
“Well, yeah, today probably I felt more in the forearm than yesterday’s match. I mean, playing three hours yesterday, I knew that I’m gonna feel something or I’m gonna think about it even more,” Alcaraz said.
“But, you know, playing someone like Rublev that I couldn’t push to the limit in every point is tough. But yeah, the end of the match, I sliced the forehand a bit more. Well, it was difficult feelings, let’s say, at the end of the match.”
Carlos Alcaraz plans to go to the Rome Masters
In Madrid, Alcaraz maybe didn’t feel at his best but at least he was fit enough to play. Now, Alcaraz plans to at least go to Rome and see what happens in the next couple of days before the tournament starts on May 8th.
“But the point is that I’m gonna go to Rome. I’m going to work these days to be close to 100% or in a good way to play in Rome, but I’m gonna decide in the next coming days. But I think I’ll be okay to play Rome,” Alcaraz said.
If Alcaraz manages to play in Rome, he will be making his second appearance at the tournament. Last year in his debut at Foro Italico, Alcaraz didn’t impress as he won just one match before suffering a shock loss to Fabian Marozsan.
For Alcaraz, playing in Rome could be both a positive and a negative thing. If Alcaraz misses Rome, that means he goes to the French Open with just one clay tournament played leading up to the second Grand Slam of the season. If Alcaraz plays Rome, he risks potentially aggravating his forearm injury – which wouldn’t be a good thing at all.
But in the next couple of days, Alcaraz will certainly get some additional treatment on his forearm and he will very probably play in Rome only if he determines there is no major risk to it.
