Carlos Alcaraz\u2019s hopes of playing in the Madrid Masters are set to be decided by a scan on the injury that hampered his ambitions in his Barcelona final defeat against Holger Rune.<\/p>\n
Alcaraz<\/a> had hoped to claim a third title in Catalonia and headed back to his Spanish homeland in an upbeat mood after winning last week\u2019s Monte Carlo Masters.<\/p>\n However, he was clearly hampered by a physical problem in the second set and fell to a 7-6[6], 6-2 defeat.<\/p>\n The loss was damaging as with Alexander Zverev celebrating his 28th birthday by winning the BMW Open on home soil in Munich, Alcaraz will drop back to No 3 world rankings behind the German on Monday.<\/p>\n Alcaraz started the match in dominant form and broke serve early in the first set, but Rune was in impressive form and snapped a 13-game losing streak against opponents ranked in the top five rivals as he claimed his first ATP 500 title.<\/p>\n Former world No 3 who beat Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal answers whether he would coach Carlos Alcaraz<\/a><\/p>\n Carlos Alcaraz asked if emulating Rafael Nadal\u2019s 14 French Open titles is \u2018impossible\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cIt means the world,\u201d the Dane said on Sky Sports, as he booked his return to the top 10 of the ATP rankings with his win in Barcelona.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was such a great match. In the beginning, I was a bit stressed because Carlos obviously played big-time tennis. I had to breathe a lot and find my rhythm.<\/p>\n \u201cThen it was a big battle in the first set, the first set was extremely important. I\u2019m so proud of myself.\u201d<\/p>\n The questions after the match focused on the injury to Alcaraz and while there were suggestions he had a groin problem, the reigning French Open champion revealed the problem area was his psoas.<\/p>\n The psoas muscle is a long, thick muscle located in the lower back, specifically on either side of the spine.<\/p>\n It\u2019s a crucial part of the core, connecting the spine to the hip and thigh bone. The psoas muscle\u2019s main function is to flex the hip, allowing you to move your leg forward, and it also plays a role in spinal stabilisation and posture.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve noticed some discomfort in my right psoas, and when you feel a little pain, alarm bells go off and you\u2019re taken out of the match,\u201d said Alcaraz.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve struggled to keep going and maintain a good level. From what I\u2019m feeling right now, I\u2019ll be off for two days. I\u2019m confident it won\u2019t hurt me ahead of Madrid\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s been two weeks of nonstop play, and it\u2019s been a real challenge. Today wasn\u2019t possible, but I gave everything I had. I don\u2019t know if I could have pushed myself any harder.\u201d<\/p>\n A report in the Spanish newspaper Marca suggests Alcaraz will have a scan on his back on Monday, with the result set to decide whether he will play at the Madrid Open.<\/p>\n He will receive a bye in the first round of the tournament and could ask tournament organisers for a delayed start in Madrid, but his suggestion that he is jadaed after playing so much tennis in Monte Carlo and Barcelona suggests he may welcome a break from competitive tennis over the next few days.<\/p>\n READ NEXT: Holger Rune snaps 13-match losing streak against top 5 players after winning the Barcelona Open<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n The post Carlos Alcaraz set for crucial medical test that could end Madrid Open hopes<\/a> appeared first on Tennis365<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Carlos Alcaraz\u2019s hopes of playing in the Madrid Masters are set to be decided by a scan on the injury that hampered his ambitions in his Barcelona final defeat against Holger Rune. Alcaraz had hoped to claim a third title in Catalonia and headed back to his Spanish homeland in an upbeat mood after winning […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-336","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/336","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=336"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/336\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=336"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=336"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=336"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}More Tennis News<\/h3>\n