Carlos Alcaraz says he understands his body better now than he did 12 months ago and is confident he will be able to play a full clay swing as long as he stays fit.
The Spaniard lost his world No.1 status to Jannik Sinner after being beaten by the Italian in the Monte Carlo Masters final on Sunday. Alcaraz had held the top spot for 22 weeks in a row to bring his overall career tally to 66 weeks. So far this season, he has won two titles at the Australian Open and Qatar Open.
With his focus shifting to the clay, Alcaraz plans to play back-to-back in Barcelona, Madrid, and Rome, leading up to the French Open. Should he do so, he will only have a week off between those three events and the next Grand Slam. Last season, he didn’t play in Madrid due to discomfort in his right abductor.
“The main goal is to play the full clay season calendar. Let’s see how it’s gonna be. It was the goal last year, as well, and unfortunately, I couldn’t because I was injured,” Alcaraz said after losing to Sinner on Sunday.
“We are touching wood and praying that nothing’s going to happen to my body.”
The seven-time Grand Slam champion has a large number of points to defend in the coming weeks. He is the defending champion at both Rome and Roland Garros. Meanwhile, in Barcelona this week, he will be defending points from reaching the final last year.
“I feel my body is much better than last year. If I’m gonna skip one, I will skip one tournament. If my body stays healthy, I’m going to do whatever it takes to be healthy and take care of my body.” He continued.
“If I don’t have any problems, I will play everything on clay. Let’s see how it’s gonna be in the next few weeks. I don’t know how it’s gonna be, the matches, if I’m gonna win matches, if I’m gonna lose in the first rounds, if the matches are going to be super demanding physically or not, so I don’t know how it’s gonna be, but what I can tell right now is I will hear my body much better this year than last year.”
As for his rivalry with Sinner, Alcaraz said he is ‘not surprised at all’ by his rival’s improvement on the clay. Monte Carlo is the biggest title Sinner has won on the dirt and his second ATP title on the surface after the 2022 Umag Open.
“We have seen Jannik’s level on clay, and I think he’s been improving a lot year by year,” said Alcaraz, who leads their head-to-head 10-7.
“I think he’s reaching a level on clay that is going to be really dangerous for everybody.
“I’m not surprised at all, because we could see last year in the French Open the level he played.
“He has the level on clay to win every tournament he plays on clay and every surface, of course, but he understands the game on clay pretty well.”
Alcaraz will play Finnish qualifier Otto Virtanen in his opening match at the Barcelona Open later this week.
