Alcaraz said he did “everything possible to play” but had to make the “tough decision” to withdraw after listening to his body and talking to doctors.
“Madrid is one of the special tournaments for me, it’s a tournament that I enjoy, I get to play in front of my fans, it’s one of the first tournaments I attended when I was a kid,” Alcaraz said. “These types of decisions are not easy to make but sometimes you have to think about your health and about what is important. A Grand Slam is a Grand Slam. If I play here, I could make the injuries worse and stop for several months and that’s not worth it.”
He said he felt “secure” about recovering in time to play next month at Roland Garros, where he is the defending champion. He won the Roland Garros final last year against Alexander Zverev, who has just leapfrogged the Spaniard to No. 2 in the world after winning in Munich last week.
“I’m not really worried about it,” Alcaraz said. “I believe it’s going to take one week, one week and a half, two weeks maximum, but I won’t have doubts about coming back and moving 100% again.”
