Photo credit: Corleve/Mark Peterson
Carlos Alcaraz's Madrid experience is over before it began.
Reigning Roland Garros champion Alcaraz officially withdrew from the Mutua Madrid Open today due to the left adductor and hamstring injury that pained him in his 7-6(6), 6-2 to Holger Rune in the Barcelona Open final on Sunday.
Two-time Madrid champion Alcaraz said it was a "really difficult situation" to withdraw, but asserted it's important to "heal your body" as he prepares for Grand Slam title defenses in Paris and at Wimbledon.
"In Barcelona final I felt something in the left hamstring, I didn't think that it was that serious," Alcaraz told the media in Madrid today. "I'm really disappointed that I'm not able to play here in Madrid, it is a place that I love playing in front of my people, in front of my family, my friends. They are not able to travel so much, so here is a special place for me.
"It was a really difficult situation, really difficult to decide, you know, not able to play. I think it is what it is. Tennis is really a demanding sport. Playing week after week, so many matches in a row, and you have to heal your body sometimes and take difficult decisions. I will come back stronger, I will come back with a lot of power for the next tournaments, but, yeah, I'm really disappointed not playing here in Madrid."
A massively popular presence in Madrid, Alcaraz is 24-5 on the season winning tournament titles in Monte-Carlo on red clay and Rotterdam on indoor hard court.
World No. 3 Alcaraz, who lost to Andrey Rublev in the 2024 Madrid quarterfinals then missed Rome due to a forearm injury, said he hopes to recover in time for next month's Rome Masters 1000 where world No. 1 Jannik Sinner is scheduled to return.
"My plan is going to Rome. My mindset is to do everything it takes to be a hundred percent for Rome," Alcaraz said. "I will do some tests at the beginning of next week just to see how it's improved, and from that let's see how it's going to be the next days.
"My hope is to play in Rome. If not, I mean, next tournament is Roland Garros for me. So I will try to be on court as soon as possible."
The 21-year-old Spanish superstar shook off the forearm issue last spring to make history as the sixth man to win Roland Garros and Wimbledon back-to-back.
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Today, Alcaraz said he does not believe his adductor injury is as severe and believes he can make a full recovery in a couple of weeks.
"Last year it was a more difficult situation for me with the forearm, that I had a lot of doubts about my game in that period," Alcaraz said. "This injury, I mean, I'm not really worried about it. It's just, or I believe it's going to be, it's going to take one week, one week and a half, two weeks maximum, but I won't have doubts about coming back and moving a hundred percent again.
"But from this situation I'm going to try to learn from the past, trying to deal the best way possible. And, yeah, and coming from the next tournaments and, yeah, I'm a hundred percent."