Nadal and Alcaraz miss the Monte Carlo Masters 1000

Principality is losing its chops, and it’s special: Rafa Nadal and Carlos Alcaraz give up playing their first Masters 1000 tournament on clay of the season. For Rafa, it was up in the air, and now it’s official and he announced it himself on Twitter.

Rafa is still struggling to recover from the many injuries that have befallen him, almost simultaneously between the end of 2022 and the beginning of 2023. Especially the most recent ileal rupture in his left leg that stopped him at the Australian Open, where he defended the title. “I don’t feel ready yet,” he wrote, “and I will have to miss one of the most important tournaments in my career.” In the principality, the 14-year-old Roland Garros champion has lifted the trophy 11 times but hasn’t won it since 2018. “I keep preparing – Rafa said a few days ago – I prefer to live from day to day and only come back when I’m well. I don’t want to risk making things worse. worst.”

Carlos says hello

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A few minutes later, again via social media, Carlos Alcaraz gave up: “I have post-traumatic arthritis in my right hand and a back problem, see you in 2024”.

In short, in the space of an hour the tournament has lost two favorites and Morcian will allow Novak Djokovic to hold the No. 1 scepter for a while longer. The world number 2 defended an early exit from 2022 and therefore won’t lose many points in the standings, but he is defending 500 points from the ATP 500 in Barcelona and 1000 in Madrid. So it is very likely that after the efforts on the American hard courts, he preferred to rest to be at his best in front of his home crowd. Soon after, Félix Auger-Aliassime also resigned.