Carlos Alcaraz is the great favorite this year in the Conde de Godó. The Spaniard comes with the band of having won here last year and with the task of defending the 500 points that the victory brought him, although he will first have to clear up any doubts about his physical condition. The Murcian withdrew from the Monte Carlo Masters 1,000, one of the two tournaments in this category that is not mandatory, due to discomfort in his left hand and spine.
The loss in the Principality had no consequences for his ranking, since he did not defend anything, since in 2022 he lost in his debut. However, this year the outlook is different for Alcaraz in Barcelona. He is presented as the main candidate for the title and the defender of it. He is the first seed and, although he will not be able to take the top spot from Novak Djokovic, who has a comfortable advantage of more than 400 points, a repeat victory is essential if you do not want to lose weight with the Serb.
For this, Alcaraz is exempt from playing the first round and in the second he can face Ilya Ivashka, the 74th-ranked Belarusian tennis player who lost in his second match in Monte Carlo. Later, in the round of 16, he can play against Roberto Bautista; in the quarterfinals, against Frances Tiafoe or Alejandro Davidovich, and in the semifinals the main favorite is Casper Ruud, recent winner in Estoril. In this way, he avoids Stefanos Tsitsipas, twice runner-up in Barcelona, and Jannik Sinner, who will come tired from Monte Carlo, where he reached the final, until the final.
«I’m going to try to take the pressure off as a favorite and enjoy the track. I will think about everything except defending the trophy. Since last season I have improved a lot in the mental aspect and I feel that I read the game better, something that helps me to change things when they are not going well, “Alcaraz explained to the media at the Barcelona Tennis Club, where he has been training since several days. The Murcian trained alongside Ruud, who lost early in Monte Carlo, and Denis Shapovalov, and the sensations from him have been positive.
Despite the great news of Alcaraz’s debut on clay, the Count of Godó has suffered two important casualties in recent days. The biggest, that of Rafa Nadal, who is not yet ready to make the leap to the competition and will miss a tournament that he has won twelve times, the last one in 2021. Nadal injured his iliac psoas at the Open Australia and has missed Doha, Dubai, Indian Wells, Miami, Monte Carlo and Barcelona.
Medvedev, another absence of weight
Nor will Daniil Medvedev be in the Godó, who ended his participation in Monte Carlo exhausted, where he reached the quarterfinals. “I’m sorry I can’t play in Barcelona this year. I have great memories from the last time I played, in 2019, so I hope to be back next year,” acknowledged the finalist of the edition four years ago.
Alcaraz aspires this year to become the eleventh tennis player to repeat the title in Barcelona, after Herbert Flam (1956 and 1957), Roy Emerson (1963 and 1964), Martin Mulligan (1967 and 1968), Ilie Nastase (1973 and 1974), Ivan Lendl (1980 and 1981), Mats Wilander (1982, 1983 and 1984), Andrés Gómez (1989 and 1990), Thomas Muster (1995 and 1996), Nadal (2004-2009, 2011-2013, 2016-2018) and Kei Nishikori (2014 and 2015).
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