BARCELONA: Carlos Alcaraz hopes to defend his Madrid Open title but the Spanish world number three said Monday he is uncertain whether he will be fully fit to do so.
Alcaraz pulled out of the Barcelona Open on Sunday because of an injury to his right forearm and explained his current fitness situation.
The Madrid Open starts on April 22 and Alcaraz said his goal is to play there after withdrawing from the Monte Carlo Masters earlier in April, and then from Barcelona, with the French Open approaching on the horizon.
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“My intention is (to play at) the Madrid Open, but I am not sure about anything,” Alcaraz told reporters.
“I don’t want to get ahead of myself, I don’t want to say that I will be 100 percent at the Madrid Open, but that is my intention.
“We will try and do everything that is in our power.”
Alcaraz has won two Grand Slams and is building towards Roland Garros which starts on May 26, having reached the semi-finals last year in Paris.
The 20-year-old said he would have liked to play in Barcelona after winning the tournament in each of the last two years.
“I went home (from Monte Carlo) to see if with recovery, days, training and patience I could arrive for Barcelona in the best shape,” said Alcaraz.
“I did a test on Saturday morning and the images were quite positive … but on Sunday it didn’t go how we wanted, every time I was increasing the intensity on my right, the discomfort went up.”
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