Having withdrawn Sunday from the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell due to a right forearm injury, Carlos Alcaraz visited the ATP 500 event a day later to provide an update on his progress and prospects as the European clay season continues.
The No. 3 in the PIF ATP Rankings, who missed last week’s Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters due to the same injury, emphasised his sadness at missing the chance to compete in Barcelona, where he lifted the title in 2022 and 2023. He remains hopeful he will be able to compete at another event that he has won the past two years, the Mutua Madrid Open, which begins on 24 April.
“I won’t be able to play in Barcelona, but I wanted to come to the tournament,” said Alcaraz in a press conference on Monday afternoon. “I wanted to come and explain in my own words. This is a club I’ve spent a lot of my life at, I wanted to do it in person and talk about my current situation.
“The pain started in the first practice session in Monte-Carlo. After an hour my forearm was feeling particularly uncomfortable. At the time I didn’t think it would be anything important. My team and I treated it as well as possible, doing tests to see what the problem was. I couldn’t recover in time to play in Monte-Carlo so I returned home to see if, with recovery, days, practice, and patience, I would be able to arrive in Barcelona as fit as possible.”
