Carlos Alcaraz didn't go all the way at the 2024 Madrid Open, but he was quite content with the quarter-final, all things considered.
If you asked tennis players who would win the Madrid Open this year, many would probably say Alcaraz. He won the ATP Masters 1000 event in the Spanish capital two years in a row and quite comfortably so.
That's why many would have expected him to do well, but he didn't, relatively speaking. He didn't win the event, which is certainly a disappointment for him, but it was his first clay event of the European clay season because he missed both the Monte-Carlo Masters and the Barcelona Open due to an injury.
When you put things into perspective, making the quarter-final was pretty good because he didn't feel 100% during the event, either. The forearm injury proved a concern in the match against Andrey Rublev and played a part in his loss.
Despite the quarter-final exit, Alcaraz wants to focus on the positive because, realistically, he didn't think he'd make it to the quarter-final.
"Look, a day before starting I didn't know if I could compete and I went almost a week without hitting a forehand. My first training session hitting forehands was against [Daniil] Medvedev 24 hours after starting my participation. It is clear that, once I hit the court, I won't, I don't like losing at all, but I consider this week very positive because I have been able to play four games at a high intensity."
"Neither my team nor I would have said that I could reach the quarterfinals before the tournament, so now it is time to continue working to regain normality as soon as possible on my forehand."
He's yet to make a decision on the Italian Open, so there is a chance we won't see him until Roland Garros, as the injury keeps bothering him.
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