The season on red clay takes on a really important value for Carlos Alcaraz, who has only shone on and off in the first three months of 2025. The young Spanish star lifted a trophy in Rotterdam in February, breaking the curse of Spanish players in that tournament, but in the other tournaments the results were quite disappointing for a champion of his level.
The 4-time Grand Slam champion who failed to overtake Sascha Zverev in second place in the ATP rankingdespite the German's poor results between February and March stopped in the quarterfinals at the Australian Open, the quarterfinals in Doha, the semifinals in Indian Wells and the second round in Miami, where he played really badly against the Belgian veteran David Goffin.
The tour on red clay had not started well for Carlitos last year, as he had to miss Monte Carlo, Barcelona and Rome due to a forearm injury and had not been able to play his best tennis even in Madrid. However, the former world No.1 was back in excellent shape in time for Roland Garros by lifting the trophy after an amazing run.
Alcaraz changes his shoes
The 21-year-old from Murcia wants to achieve a good result in the Principality in 2025, having participated in this tournament only once in his young career (in 2022, when he was immediately eliminated by Sebastian Korda).
The world number 3 will not have an easy debut, as he will face the winner of the match between Fabio Fognini (champion here in 2019) and Francisco Cerundolo in the second round.
Carlos had a practice session with 24-time Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic today and looks set to go on the sixth Masters 1000 of his career.
In the meantime - according to Eurosport - the Spanish ace has decided to change the model of shoes for the season on the red clay (probably more suitable for this surface).
The former world No.1 has made several changes in recent months, adding Samuel Lopez to his team and using a heavier racket.
