Carlos Alcaraz addressed a range of topics after losing to Holger Rune in the final of the 2025 Barcelona Open, including a message he received from Rafael Nadal.<\/p>\n
The four-time Grand Slam winner fell to a 6-7(6), 2-6 defeat to his 21-year-old Danish rival at the ATP 500 clay-court event.<\/p>\n
Alcaraz<\/a>\u00a0entered the final on a nine-match winning streak after his victory at the Monte Carlo Masters the previous week.<\/p>\n The 21-year-old Spaniard was also unbeaten in 14 matches at the Barcelona Open, having won the tournament in 2022 and 2023 before missing it last year through injury.<\/p>\n The world No 3 was up a break in the opening set, but an inspired Rune battled back impressively to edge it on a tiebreak.<\/p>\n Alcaraz\u2019s hopes of a comeback were derailed early in the second set when he sustained a psoas injury that required him to leave the court for treatment.<\/p>\n Here is every word Alcaraz said in his post-match press conference.<\/p>\n \u201cLosing is never easy, especially in a final and at the Godo. Despite how the match went, I have to give credit and congratulations to Holger. He played an exceptional, very organised match, knowing what he had to do at all times. I\u2019ve forgiven certain situations that ultimately hurt me, but overall, it was a Godo final: I\u2019m proud of having given everything, even if it\u2019s a slightly bitter situation.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe second set started off very tough, with long, intense rallies. There were a couple of rallies that made me feel a little sore in my abductor muscle, my right psoas: when you feel a little discomfort, the alarm bells go off a bit and it\u2019s hard to stay focused on the game. You worry about how your physique, your health, is going to be, and it was hard for me to continue and maintain that level. From what I\u2019m noticing and feeling now, I think it\u2019s going to be two days of rest, and even if I hadn\u2019t hurt myself, I would have had them anyway. We\u2019re going to talk to my medical team, we\u2019re going to run tests, but I believe and trust that it won\u2019t harm me for Madrid.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAs I said, having played so many demanding matches with so few days of rest is what it takes. I didn\u2019t think I was going to have any physical discomfort; you don\u2019t think about that when you go into a match, but I knew it would be a tough, demanding match, and I had faith in being able to hold on and play good tennis, which I still think I did. This is super demanding; you have to give 100% every day, and after playing in Monte Carlo and arriving in Barcelona with just a few days to spare, that\u2019s always complicated. I\u2019m here to throw myself at Rafa\u2019s feet for what he\u2019s done week after week. You have to appreciate that, but it\u2019s something you keep in your head because of how difficult it is week after week.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI know Rune, I\u2019ve seen him win big titles and see great players. I\u2019m not surprised by the level he can play at. What has surprised me, though, is that he pulls it off from time to time, but it\u2019s not that often, is the order he\u2019s had in the match. He\u2019s barely had any ups and downs; he\u2019s been very serious, very solid, from start to finish, I\u2019ve had everything very clear. He deserves to be congratulated for that, and in that respect, he has surprised me a little, but as far as the level goes, no, I know what he\u2019s capable of.\u201d<\/p>\n The 5 players to beat Carlos Alcaraz in a final: Novak Djokovic the only man to do it twice, Holger Rune joins list<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n ATP Madrid Open draw: Djokovic and Alcaraz set to clash, Zverev headlines top half<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n \u201cA little bit of patience. I started the match very well, with great shots, he played faster and straighter, which I think benefited me. Since my break, I think he changed tactically, and in the end he got more balls in, he ran more, he played longer and more intense rallies, and that\u2019s what I lacked: a little bit of patience and changing my game plan a little to wait for my moment. I rushed things at certain moments, and he took advantage of that very well.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHe hasn\u2019t given me any advice, but it\u2019s true that he wrote to me encouragingly, saying that he hopes it\u2019s nothing and that in a few days I can get back to training so that I\u2019m at my best in Madrid. People, including myself, even though I play tennis and know what it\u2019s like to be on tour, admire Rafa for what he\u2019s done on this clay-court tour: when you experience it from the inside, you appreciate how difficult it is. Physically, mentally, week after week, winning everything in a row\u2026 it\u2019s impossible. You appreciate it so much more when you experience it firsthand.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s intense. It really is. The clay-court tour is short, but very intense. Week after week without a break if you play everything\u2026 and that\u2019s the difficulty, for a tennis player and their team, of being consistent, of speaking and communicating how you feel, how your body is, what you need. For me, it\u2019s been two intense weeks after reaching two finals, playing a lot of matches. As the tour progresses, you see, but the difficult thing is that you go day by day, you don\u2019t know how your body will be in two weeks, that\u2019s the tricky part: we have to listen to our body day by day, because the season is very long and if you make a bad decision it can harm you in the future. To your question, yes, it\u2019s practically crazy to endure the entire clay-court tour in good physical condition and, above all, in good mental condition, if you\u2019re winning matches.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSometimes it gets complicated, because you feel the need to win, whether because of people\u2019s demands or because of those labels. I\u2019ve already said that I don\u2019t give importance to what people might say, or to people\u2019s expectations. I want to continue on the path I\u2019ve set for myself, and that\u2019s not about winning or losing, but about leaving the court happy, having enjoyed it, even despite the physical problems, which no one wants to have. Having played in Barcelona, \u200b\u200bin front of my fans, friends, and family, is something I have to value, enjoy, and leave the court proud of what I\u2019ve done and with my head held high. That\u2019s what I\u2019m left with. I\u2019ve reached a point where being a favourite or not is something that doesn\u2019t concern me.\u201d<\/p>\n READ NEXT: ATP Rankings: Zverev reclaims No 2 spot from Alcaraz, Rune returns to top 10, Ruud & Tsitsipas slide<\/a> The post Everything Carlos Alcaraz said after losing to Holger Rune in Barcelona Open final<\/a> appeared first on Tennis365<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Carlos Alcaraz addressed a range of topics after losing to Holger Rune in the final of the 2025 Barcelona Open, including a message he received from Rafael Nadal. The four-time Grand Slam winner fell to a 6-7(6), 2-6 defeat to his 21-year-old Danish rival at the ATP 500 clay-court event. Alcaraz\u00a0entered the final on a […]<\/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-340","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/340","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=340"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/340\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=340"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=340"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=340"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Feelings after the final<\/h4>\n
The injury he suffered in the second set<\/h4>\n
Impact of playing 10 matches in 12 days in Monte Carlo and Barcelona<\/h4>\n
Was Alcaraz surprised by Rune?<\/h4>\n
ATP Tour News<\/h2>\n
What was missing from Alcaraz\u2019s performance and what Rune changed<\/h4>\n
What Nadal said to Alcaraz after the final<\/h4>\n
Is it \u201ccrazy\u201d to play a schedule of Monte Carlo, Barcelona, \u200b\u200bMadrid, Rome, and Roland Garros?<\/h4>\n
Is being the favourite to win tournaments difficult to manage?<\/h4>\n
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