Home hero Carlos Alcaraz pulled out of the Madrid Open on Thursday, citing lingering muscle injuries and a desire to avoid jeopardizing his French Open campaign.
The world No. 3 attributed the setbacks to tennis’ “really tight” schedule, calling it part of the sport’s “demanding” nature.
Alcaraz, who battled a nagging upper leg issue in last Sunday’s Barcelona Open final, revealed he’s also dealing with a left leg injury. He was scheduled to make his Caja Mágica debut on Saturday.
Alcaraz is a two-time champion in Madrid, having won in 2022 and 2023. He was the No. 2 seed this week and in the same half of the draw as Novak Djokovic.
Alcaraz said he did “everything possible to play” but had to make the “tough decision” to withdraw after listening to his body and speaking with doctors.
“Madrid is one of the special tournaments for me. It’s a tournament that I enjoy – I get to play in front of my fans. It’s one of the first tournaments I attended when I was a kid,” Alcaraz said. “These types of decisions are not easy to make, but sometimes you have to think about your health and about what is important. A Grand Slam is a Grand Slam. If I play here, I could make the injuries worse and have to stop for several months, and that’s not worth it.”
He said he felt “secure” about recovering in time to play next month at Roland Garros, where he is the defending champion. He won last year’s final against Alexander Zverev, who leapfrogged the Spaniard to No. 2 in the world after winning in Munich last week.
“I’m not really worried about it,” Alcaraz said. “I believe it’s going to take one week, one and a half weeks, two weeks maximum. But I won’t have doubts about coming back and moving 100 percent again.”
He said he plans to play in Rome ahead of the French Open, which begins May 25.
“My mindset is to do everything it takes to be 100 percent for Rome. 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 in the next days,” he said. “My hope is to play in Rome. If not, the next tournament is Roland Garros for me. So I will try to be on court as soon as possible.”
Alcaraz needed treatment on his leg during his straight-sets loss to Holger Rune in the Barcelona final.
He had not yet practiced in Madrid and said earlier this week that he felt “fine” but was waiting on medical test results to determine whether he would play.
Alcaraz, who turns 22 on May 5, opened his clay-court campaign with a title in Monte Carlo and was on a nine-match winning streak until the Barcelona final. He said he later also felt pain in a muscle in his left leg.
Alcaraz vowed to “come back stronger” but criticized the demanding tennis schedule.
“Tennis is really a demanding sport,” he said. “Playing week after week, so many matches in a row – you have to heal your body sometimes and make difficult decisions.”
The four-time Grand Slam champion has a 24-5 record this year. In addition to Monte Carlo, he also won in Rotterdam on hard court in February.
“The schedule is really tight, really difficult tournaments week after week. Sometimes you have to think about yourself and make the right decisions for your health,” he said.