Carlos Alcaraz arrived in Rotterdam yesterday, where he is preparing to play the second tournament of his 2025 season after the Australian Open. As had already happened in 2024, the young Spaniard stopped in the quarterfinals at Melbourne Park showing that he does not have a great feeling for the Happy Slam. Last year his run ended against Sascha Zverev, while this year it was Serbian legend Novak Djokovic who prevented him from lifting the only Major trophy he is still missing.
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The 21-year-old from Murcia practiced for a whole week at the Ferrero Tennis Academy in Villena, resting only on Thursday when he attended the presentation of the Netflix docu-series dedicated to him which will be released during 2025 (the well-known platform has not yet announced the exact date of its release).
Alcaraz wants his first title in 2025
The former world number 1 arrived in Rotterdam together with Samuel Lopez who will also accompany him to Doha in the second half of February and held his first practice session with the champion of the 2023 edition Daniil Medvedev.
The 4-time Grand Slam champion who has not won a title since Beijing ATP 500 in October 2024 will try to show all his progresses on indoor hard courts and reduce the gap that separates him from Zverev in the ATP rankings.
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It is the first time since 2021 that Carlitos has played a tournament on indoor hard courts in February, having always preferred tournaments on red clay in South America in recent years. According to 'MARCA', the current world number 3 suffers from a bit of a cold but should have no problem playing his best tennis.
Alcaraz will make his debut in Rotterdam on Tuesday or Wednesday against local idol Botic van de Zandschulp. Despite the absence of world number 1 and defending champion Jannik Sinner, the Spaniard will not have an easy path in this tournament due to the presence of three other Top 10 players such as Daniil Medvedev, Andrey Rublev and Alex de Minaur (finalist here in 2024).
