Carlos Alcaraz believes Rafael Nadal will be one of the players to beat at this year’s French Open despite not playing on the Tour since January.
Nadal has been sidelined from action since his second round defeat at the Australian Open due to a hip injury. The 22-time Grand Slam champion originally anticipated that it would take eight weeks for him to recover but the rehabilitation process hasn’t gone as hoped. The exact problem he is suffering from relates to an issue with his psoas muscle in his lower abdomen and upper right leg.
Nadal is yet to publicly confirm if he will be returning to action next week at the Italian Masters which will be the last major event to take place before Roland Garros later this month. Given his recent problems and a fall down the rankings, he faces a tall order of adding to his title tally in Paris.
However, one of his rivals isn’t ruling him out of contention. World No.2 Alcaraz believes his compatriot has the ability to show a ‘spectacular level’ of tennis even if he is lacking match play. The two have faced each other on the Tour three times so far in their careers with Alcaraz winning just once which was their latest meeting at the 2022 Madrid Open.
“He is one of the best in history and we want to see him in all the tournaments. I say this as a player and as a tennis lover, I like to see him compete and learn from him,” Alcaraz said in tribute to his rival.
“It has been a pity all these months where we have not been able to see him in tournaments. Hopefully he will be in Rome and then at Roland Garros, where he will be a rival to beat. Although he has not played since Australia, a man who has won a tournament 14 times will always be difficult to beat in that tournament, even if he comes without match rhythm.’
“It will also be difficult for him, tennis requires that competitive rhythm, but Rafa is Rafa, even if he arrives without many matches, he will surely show a spectacular level.”
Recently, Nadal’s former coach Toni Nadal was confident that he will be playing at the French Open. However, current coach Carlos Moya was more cautious about the topic during a recent interview with L’Equipe where he admits that the rehabilitation process is still ongoing.
“We do more or less an hour and a half a day and we continue to progress day by day,” Moya told L’Equipe.
“It’s not even about being optimistic or negative, just observing the state of your progress on a daily basis.
“Of course these are difficult times because we missed tournaments that we love, but Rafa is a warrior, with an indestructible mind.
“When the time comes to come back, we will be very motivated. Impossible to say when he will play. Hopefully, tomorrow everything will be perfect and we’ll go to Rome. Who knows?”
Nadal has never missed the French Open since making his debut back in 2005. Overall, he has won 112 out of 115 matches played at the tournament with his only defeats being to Novak Djokovic twice and Robin Soderling.
As for Alcaraz, he enters the French Open as one of the favourites for the title. This week in Madrid he is seeking to claim his fourth trophy of the season and will play Karen Khachanov in the quarter-finals on Wednesday.
The French Open will begin on May 22nd.
