Carlos Alcaraz Makes Decision About 2025 Italian Open After Injury Setback

Carlos Alcaraz seemingly made his decision about the 2025 Italian Open in Rome, which is the final Masters 1000 tournament on clay this season.

Alcaraz sustained an adductor injury in the 2025 Barcelona Open final against Holger Rune. It hampered him, but Rune was already playing excellently and thoroughly deserved to win the final in front of the Spaniard's home fans.

Initially, Alcaraz was confident of being fit for the 2025 Madrid Open when he spoke to a reporter at the 2025 Laureus World Sports Awards, where Rafael Nadal received the Sporting Icon award a few months after his retirement.

Unfortunately for Alcaraz and the fans who attended the Madrid Open, the injury turned out to be more severe than he thought, and the four-time Grand Slam champion withdrew from the event he has won twice.

Paula Badosa's subsequent withdrawal meant the two most significant active Spanish players could not play, which was undoubtedly a devastating blow for the Madrid Open's organizers. Aryna Sabalenka and Casper Ruud went on to win the men's and women's titles.

The Italian Open's organizers may have feared that Alcaraz would decide to be cautious and not play until the 2025 French Open in a few weeks, but it seems that the worldwide fan favorite will be ready for the event in Rome.

MARCA reports that Alcaraz has fully recovered from the adductor injury and should be ready to play at the Italian Open without any problems. The former world No. 1 returned to training on Monday.

Alcaraz and his team gradually increased the training workload since Monday, and that approach has worked well. It did not aggravate the injury, and the 22-year-old is feeling positive before the tournament.

Although MARCA's report states that Alcaraz is positive about his chances of being ready for the Italian Open, he and his team plan to complete an extremely intense training session on Monday to confirm his ability to play.

MARCA also reported that Alcaraz is set to fly to Rome on Tuesday, May 6th. The recent Monte-Carlo Masters champion turns 22 on Monday and wants to celebrate it with his family and friends.

Alcaraz often discusses how much he misses being at home with his family because of the grueling tennis calendar. The two-time Wimbledon champion loves being a professional player, but it comes at the price of being away from Spain a lot.

However, he has also been accused of hypocrisy since Alcaraz played at the Six Kings Slam exhibition in Saudi Arabia in October, and admitted to mostly doing this because of the vast financial sums on offer at the tournament.

Alcaraz also decided to go to the U.S. for exhibitions with Frances Tiafoe in Charlottesville and with Ben Shelton at Madison Square Garden during the off-season, when he could have used that time to relax with family and friends.

Adriano Panatta showed Alcaraz no sympathy after his withdrawal from the Madrid Open. He said the Spaniard chose to play an overly heavy clay-court schedule, which meant picking up an injury was more likely.