Fans were disappointed when Carlos Alcaraz withdrew from the first clay-court ATP Masters 1000 event of 2024, but Andy Roddick agreed with the Spaniard's decision.
Roddick has been retired from tennis for nearly 12 years now. However, he remains actively involved as one of the most opinionated analysts in the sport, and his views regularly receive much attention.
An example of this was Roddick being furious about a claim that pickleball requires more skills than tennis. He joined Nick Kyrgios and James Blake in dismissing that view as being complete nonsense.
The 2003 US Open champion also issued a strong defense of Rafael Nadal when he withdrew late from the Indian Wells Open after playing an exhibition match with Alcaraz. Roddick called critics of Nadal dumb in his remarks.
Alcaraz's decision to withdraw from the Monte-Carlo Masters is the latest issue Roddick has given his thoughts on. In comments made on the Tennis Channel, he supported the move and believes it is a prudent decision.
"He's been talking about his forearm for two or three days now. This is the smart thing to do, especially when you have a ferrari and the gas tank is empty, let's take a play-off, let's fill that back up and get ready for the rest of the clay court season."
Roddick also mentioned that there clearly is not anything structurally wrong since Alcaraz has been making attempts to try and practice, before having to stop because the discomfort in his forearm was too much.
"There's no chance that there's something wrong structurally if he travelled to Monte-Carlo and if he is trying to hit."
The American suffered many injuries throughout his own career. That makes him a particularly good source to rely on when it comes to issues like this. If Roddick thinks it is a smart move, then Alcaraz is very likely to have made the right decision.