Another clay court tournament and yet another disappointment for Carlos Alcaraz! The fans expected a lot from the Spaniard but the hopes started to fade out right from the start of the clay court season. On a short break after his massive win at the Indian Wells Masters, the tennis star incurred an injury in his forearm which further became a persisting scare that still continues to haunt him.

While everyone is gearing up for the upcoming Italian Open, Alcaraz took a tough call once again. Listing the muscle edema in the forearm as the reason behind his withdrawal from the event, he decided to take some time off from playing, as a measure to get proper treatment and enough rest.

“I felt pain after playing in Madrid, discomfort in my arm. Today I had some tests and I have muscle edema in the pronator teres, a consequence of my last injury. Unfortunately I won’t be able to play in Rome. I need rest to recover and be able to play 100% pain-free,” Alcaraz mentioned in a tweet, as an official confirmation of the withdrawal from his end.

This came just days after his exit from the ongoing tournament in Madrid where the young Spaniard faced a quarter-final defeat against Andrey Rublev. The defeat not only marked an end to his defense for the Madrid Open title but also cut short his massive 14-match win streak in the clay court tournament. “It hurts to lose, it hurts to have options and not take advantage of them,” Alcaraz said, mentioning how the defeat made him face a heartbreaking situation.

As Alcaraz continues to keep himself off from the highly competitive scene, it still remains to be seen if he will be able to fully recover before the upcoming major event. However, a former pro has weighed in with their picks for who will rule Roland Garros this year, calling them “grand masters.” Surprisingly, it has a mention of Carlos.

Former pro predicts high chances of Roland Garros victory for Carlos Alcaraz

Despite seeing Carlos Alcaraz struggling with a disturbing injury, four-time doubles grand slam champion Paul McNamee came forward to mention how the Spaniard stands to be the biggest contender for this year’s French Open. “The grand masters [of clay] are Rafael Nadal and Bjorn Borg. Next in line will be Carlos Alcaraz,” the former pro said, placing Alcaraz’s name parallel to the absolute legends.

Along with that, he also calculated glory for the young Spaniard, calling Carlos Alcaraz getting toppled by Novak Djokovic at the 2023 RG semi-final stage a miracle. “It is almost a miracle he didn’t win the French Open last year, and he will win it this year unless something amazing happens,” McNamee added.

As the former pro envisions a returning glory for Carlos Alcaraz, it still remains to be seen if the forearm injury becomes the ‘something amazing’ to hurdle his run for the Roland Garros title.