Sinner, Djokovic, or perhaps Medvedev? The biggest opponent of the youngest world number one in history is above all her health, which has already cut her budget several times. He returned to the Madrid tournament, which Alcaraz dominated the last two years, after a month-long break during which he treated problems with his forearm. And it was far from the first troubles that befell the young tennis player during his short career.
In a duel with a six-year-old Russian, Alcaraz, driven by full stands, won the first set, but the precise Rubljov already reigned supreme in the others. At the same time, the native of Moscow did not have a good time in recent months, when he was eliminated four times in a row in the first round. The Czechs Jiří Lehečka in Indian Wells and Tomáš Macháč in Miami also took part in it twice.
However, Rubljov got off to a good start on the orange clay in Madrid, gradually dealing with three opponents, the fourth being the world number three Carlos Alcaraz. “He played great, served fantastically. He gave me few opportunities to do anything with the match. I couldn’t put him under pressure, on the contrary, he played shots in excellent positions, it was very difficult to do anything about it,” the Spaniard bowed to his opponent.
However, after the last ball of the match, the native of El Palmar could not hold back the tears, which were mainly the result of health problems, due to which he had to miss the clay events in Monte Carlo and Barcelona. “Every time I try to play a forehand, I think about the forearm and that’s not good. I want to play in Rome, but not with the pain, not with the thoughts on the forearm,” said a sad Alcaraz.
According to him, the two-time Grand Slam champion was also affected by the almost three-hour battle in the round of 16 with Struff. “At the end of the third set, you could already tell, I couldn’t play my forehand with full intensity. But I hope that I will be fine in Rome,” believes the champion.
Tags: Tears hidden towel dont play pain anymore sad star Alcaraz
