Carlos Alcaraz retains third place in the ATP rankings since the Russian Daniil Medvedev, who could take that position from him, did not do so when he abandoned the quarterfinal match of the Mutua Madrid Open that faced the Czech Jiri Lehecka.
Alcaraz, who will turn 21 on Sunday and has already recovered from the discomfort he had in his right forearm, is still behind the Serbian Novak Djokovic and the Italian Jannik Sinner, although at a greater distance, since his elimination also in the quarterfinals of the Masters 1,000 held at the Caja Mágica – he lost against the Russian Andrey Rublev 6-4, 3-6, 2-6 – made him lose 800 of the 1,000 points he was defending for the title won last year in this tournament.
Now the Murcian accumulates 7,345 compared to the 9,990 that Djokovic has, who gave up playing in Madrid; and the 8,860 of Sinner, who was also eliminated in the quarterfinals in the Madrid championship when he did not show up to play his match against the Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime due to another injury, in his case to the right hip.
In this way, Juan Carlos Ferrero’s pupil appears 2,645 points behind the veteran player from Belgrade, who will turn 27 on the 22nd, and 1,515 points behind the 22-year-old transalpine tennis player.
Just behind is Medvedev, 28, who left the racket in his match against Lehecka after finishing the first set with a 4-6 defeat as a result of the discomfort he felt in his right thigh and which led him to play several games visibly burdened. Now the one from Moscow is left with 7,195 points, barely 150 from Alcaraz.
The next stop for the Murcian will be the Masters 1,000 in Rome, to be held from May 8 to 19, and we will have to see the physical condition of Sinner and Medvedev, whose presence in the Italian capital today is doubtful.
There, barring a surprise, Djokovic will be there, who a few weeks ago broke off his relationship with Goran Ivanisevic, who was his coach, and now he has done so with Marco Panichi, who was in charge of his physical preparation.
In Rome, where in 2023 Medvedev won precisely, beating the Danish Holger Rune in the final by a double 7-5, Carlos Alcaraz only played in that edition, in which he recovered the ATP number 1, and fell in a surprising way in the third round against the Hungarian Fabian Marozsan by 3-6 and 6-7 (4). Before, he had beaten Barcelona’s Albert Ramos 6-4, 6-1 in his debut.
After this tournament in transalpine lands, in which the Palmar native will only defend 90 points, the objective will be set on Roland Garros, the second Grand Slam of the season, to be played from May 20 to June 9 in Paris.
