Carlos Alcaraz arrived in Rotterdam with a severe cold, but also with the desire to win his first title in the new year. The young Spanish champion who has not lifted a trophy since October 2024 has played only one tournament in 2025, the Australian Open, in which he was eliminated by Novak Djokovic in the quarterfinals.
The former world No.1 had shown progress in the first rounds of the Happy Slam, but his certainties disintegrated starting from the second of the match against Nole. The Serbian legend's left thigh injury confused the 21-year-old from Murcia, who gained concentration and played a frankly disastrous second half of the match.
The 4-time Grand Slam champion who is accompanied by Samuel Lopez in Rotterdam will make his debut against Botic van de Zandschulp today and will have to play his best tennis right away. His opponent will have no pressure and has already shown that he can defeat Carlitos, having eliminated him in the second round of the 2024 US Open.
Alcaraz has fun with Tsitsipas
The current world number 3 will also be able to use this tournament to reduce the gap that separates him from Jannik Sinner and Alexander Zverev in the ATP rankings. If he were to lift the trophy next Sunday, Alcaraz would reach 7510 points and would move to 4320 points from the Italian and only 625 points from the German.
The 23-year-old from Sesto Pusteria decided to skip this tournament to rest after winning the AO for the second time in a row, while Sascha will play the tournaments on the red clay in South America in February.
In the meantime before his debut in Rotterdam the Spaniard allowed himself some leisure together with Stefanos Tsitsipas.
In a video released on social media by the Dutch tournament, the two champions are seen playing a special 'Do or Dice' Challenge.
Carlos and Stefanos had a lot of fun and there were some really hilarious scenes. The Spaniard and the Greek have a great relationship off the court despite their rivalry.
