Carlos Alcaraz retires: "More serious than expected". Here’s how long Jannik Sinner is sure of No. 1

Carlos Alcaraz forfeits the Barcelona tournament. After winning in the first round against Finland’s Otto Virtanen, the champion from Murcia decided to withdraw on the eve of his match against Czech Machac due to a wrist problem.

The former world number one did not practice on Wednesday and decided to announce his forfeit in the afternoon due to a problem that emerged during the match against Virtanen: “It’s strange and difficult to be here for the second time, because I’ve done it before. It is to inform you that I will not be able to continue the tournament. I felt my wrist give out during a response during the game. After examinations, we saw that it is a more serious injury than we expected, and I have to listen to my body and make sure that it will not cause me any problems in the future.”

“With great sadness, I have to return home to start recovery as soon as possible with my team, doctors and physiotherapist, and try to recover as best I can for the upcoming tournaments. I hope you can see me back on the court as soon as possible,” Alcaraz concluded.

Retreating from the tournament will not allow him to defend last year’s points, and Alcaraz will still lose ground to Jannik Sinner. Now the Italian tennis player is certain to remain world number one even after the Mutua Madrid Open tournament, at least until the Internazionali di Roma, where last year he lost in the final to the Murcia outfielder.

Alcaraz to reach Sunday’s final in Barcelona would have had to play nine matches in eleven days-a bit too much even for a phenomenon like him, who decided to stop to catch his breath. The Madrid tournament begins April 24, and the goal is to take revenge on Sinner ahead of Rome and ahead of Roland Garros.