The bad news for Carlos Alcaraz is that he won't be playing at this year's Italian Open in Rome, but the positive news is that he will retain his place in the world's top three.
Alcaraz announced his absence from Rome in an Instagram post, which also revealed that he's aggravated the injury he carried into the Madrid Open this past week on his forearm.
The Spaniard's clay-court swing has been disrupted by the aforementioned injury, which forced him to miss the Monte-Carlo Masters and the Barcelona Open.
Alcaraz expressed doubt about playing in Madrid, where he was a two-time defending champion. Having previously admitted to letting a lot of people down for missing Barcelona, withdrawing from another home tournament was simply too big a burden for Alcaraz to bear.
While he did play some terrific tennis to earn a spot in the last eight in the Spanish capital, it came at the expense of his health. Alcaraz was overpowered by Andrey Rublev and tried to hide his emotions during the match.
It has been a testing season for Alcaraz, with one major flashpoint so far being Indian Wells, where he ended his long title drought. But injuries continue to take a toll on him, and he hasn't played anything close to a full schedule.
That has heavily impacted his points tally, with Alcaraz losing his spot in the top two to rival Jannik Sinner. With his title defense in Madrid coming to an end, he faced the possibility of dropping down to fourth, with Daniil Medvedev making a run to return into the top three.
Luckily for Alcaraz, the Russian was forced to retire during the Madrid Open quarterfinal. Additionally, Alcaraz is only losing 45 points in Rome. By contrast, Medvedev is the defending champion and has yet to defend the full 1000 points.
Even if Medvedev recovers and defends his crown at the Foro Italico, he will remain on 7195 points, which would be 105 points behind Alcaraz.
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