It is safe to say that the last few weeks have been very hard for Carlos Alcaraz. Not only did he lose the Monte Carlo Masters final and the No. 1 ranking to Jannik Sinner, but he also sustained a serious wrist injury at the Barcelona Open. This resulted in the Spaniard withdrawing from the Madrid Masters, Rome Masters, and even the French Open. Amid these tough times, Alcaraz has received support from several players, including Madrid Open defending champion Casper Ruud.

Ruud, who himself had to withdraw from the Barcelona Open due to a calf injury that he sustained in Monte Carlo, expressed sympathy for Alcaraz. He feels that the 22-year-old’s long absence will be unfortunate for the fans and “sad” for tennis as a whole.

“It’s really sad for him, for tennis, for tournaments, for fans not to be able to see him defending the title two years in a row. I feel for him. I didn’t have anything as serious as this, but last week I wasn’t able to play in Barcelona because of injury, and you quickly realize that the most important thing for us is to stay healthy and happy mentally and physically,” Ruud told BB Tennis.

The Norwegian also sent good wishes to Alcaraz and said, “When you’re not feeling good and if you have injury, then it can be really tough, so I wish him the best and a speedy recovery. He is such a joy to watch in the tournaments so he will be missed for sure.”

The concerns around Alcaraz’s injury had increased when he was seen wearing a cast at the Laureus Sports Awards. He himself had expressed uncertainty regarding his return, and this is where everyone knew that something definitely wasn’t right.

“We have some tests coming up in a few days, and from there, we’ll see how the injury is and what the next steps are,” Alcaraz had said.

Just a few days after this, Alcaraz decided to pull out

from both the Rome Masters and the French Open. The World No. 2 is set to lose a total of 3,000 points on the rankings due to the withdrawals, as he is the defending champion in both tournaments.

Ruud is someone who resonates with this feeling largely because he has also been going through a difficult time in his career. He hasn’t been able to make it to the last 4 stage in any of the seven tournaments that he has played so far. Though he hasn’t suffered any major drop in the rankings as of yet, almost all of his campaigns have turned out to be quite disappointing.

Moreover, the World No. 15 admitted that the injury he picked up in Monaco

was unlike anything he had experienced before. The setback had led to him retiring from his third-round clash against Felix Auger-Aliassime at the Principality.

Casper Ruud opens up on his “intense” calf injury

“It was hard to feel, hard to know what it was, because it was the first time I’ve felt something like this pain or instant pain in my calf. I was kind of slightly worried, but also maybe thinking it was a cramp, like the muscle just cramped up a bit, it was a pretty intense match with some long rallies, so maybe just cramped up a bit, but it turned out it wasn’t just a cramp,” Ruud said, speaking to Tennis TV.

Though Ruud was able to make a quick recovery and entered the Madrid Open as the defending champion, he will now be under pressure to make it to the later stages of the competition. An early exit here would result in him losing a massive number of points in the rankings.

When asked if the speed of his recovery had surprised him, Ruud revealed that he found it very tough to even walk due to the injury at one stage.

“Kind of. I mean the days after it was pretty tough to like even walk up the stairs, down the stairs and I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to come here at all.”

Ruud shrugged off all injury concerns with a dominant performance in the opening round of the Madrid Open. He recorded a one-sided 6-0, 6-1 victory over crowd-favorite Jaume Munar at the Manolo Santana Stadium.

He is set to take on another Spaniard, Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, in the second round. This matchup has been quite an evenly contested affair over the years, as the two have faced each other six times in the past, and the H2H record currently stands at 3-3.

Will Ruud be able to make a deep run at the Madrid Open, or does he have another early exit on the cards? Let us know what you think in the comments!