Carlos Alcaraz20 years old and world No. 3, has won the last two years of Madrid Masters 1,000 and, under normal conditions, he would approach without complications the attack on an unprecedented third consecutive title in the Spanish capital.
However, the preparation of Monte Carlo Masters 1,000The Murcian noticed some physical discomfort and finally revealed an injury to the pronator teres of his right forearm, which kept him out of both the Monegasque tournament and last week from Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell-Conde de Godó Trophywhere he had to give up the defense of his two consecutive titles and, ultimately, the Norwegian. Casper Ruud He is his successor in the list of winners.
Alcaraz, champion this year of Indian Wells Masters 1,000, had to work on his recovery at the idea of reappearing in Madrid. On Monday, in his press conference, he sent an optimistic message, but preferred to be cautious and did not guarantee 100% his presence in Mutua Madrid opens.
“I trained with more intensity and things went well, with good feelings. I don’t want to rush and I don’t want to take anything for granted, but for now, with the feelings I have and the mentality I have. There is, playing here for three or four games, I’m also happy now, I don’t want to accept anything, but if the feeling continues like this, I’ll probably leave the court,” said the Spanish tennis player. .
If the positive course of evolution continues, Carlos has a rival to begin the defense of his last two titles in Madrid, the Kazakh. Alexander Shevchenko23 years old and 59th in the ranking, which a Murcian tennis player has never faced.
Shevchenko knocked out the Frenchman in the first round Arthur Rinderknecht (77th) by 6-4, 5-7 and 6-3 in 2h.17′ of play, a victory that broke a negative streak of four consecutive defeats on the circuit, against the Pole Hubert Hurkacz (Miami), the Italian Matteo Berrettini (Marrakech), the Argentine Federico Coria (Monte Carlo) and German Yannick Hanfmann (Munich).
It is, therefore, his first victory on the European tour on clay, the culmination of which will come in the dispute of Roland Garrosthe second grand slam of the season (May 26-June 9). Shevchenko, with 10 wins and 12 losses in 2024, does not have any ATP titles and has only played in one final, last year at Metz internal ATPwhere he surrendered to the French Ugo Humbert.
Source: La Verdad
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