Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic’s injuries make it easier for Carlos Alcaraz to defend his Madrid Open crown, but he stated on Tuesday that he does not feel like a favorite to win.
As a setback to their preparations for the French Open at the end of May, the joint record 22-time Grand Slam winners withdrew from the competition in the Spanish capital last week. Alcaraz, the world’s No. 2 and top seed, is hoping to repeat his victory over Stefanos Tsitsipas on Sunday to win the Barcelona Open, which starts on Wednesday.
During the press conference that precedes the tournament in Madrid, Carlos Alcaraz commented:
“When the best players aren’t there, we say that it’s a little easier, but as I have always said, all the players are very good. They have a very high level, each player thinks they can win the title, so we aren’t (more) confident because of the big pull-outs there have been. It’s a pity not to enjoy them live, but in the end we don’t feel like favourites or anything, we’re going match by match.”
Carlos Alcaraz in 2023
WWWWWWWWWW Currently the world no.2, Carlos played his last match on the 23rd of April when he beat world no.5 Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-3 6-4 in the final in Barcelona to win his 9th career title.
At present, during this year Alcaraz owns an overall 23-2 record. Alcaraz conquered 3 titles in 2023 in Buenos Aires, Indian Wells and Barcelona. Alcaraz got to the final in Rio de Janeiro.
Novak Djokovic in 2023
WWWLWWWWWW Now ranked no.1, Djokovic played his last match on the 21st of April when he capitulated to world no.40 Dusan Lajovic 6-4 7-6(6) in the quarter in Banja Luka (draw).
This year Novak achieved a compiled 17-3 match record. The Serbian conquered 2 titles in 2023 in Adelaide and Australian Open.
Carlos Alcaraz and Novak Djokovic squared off only on 1 occasion. Their head to head is 1-0 for Alcaraz. When they played, Carlos Alcaraz won 6-7(5) 7-5 7-6(5) in the semifinal in Madrid (Mutua Madrid Open) in May 2022.
Here are the highlights.
Carlos Alcaraz |
| Embed from Getty Images |
