Alcaraz, facing the curse of the champion in Madrid

He is just one step away from repeating the title at the Madrid Open, but history tells Carlos Alcaraz that this feat is not an easy task. In fact, in the previous 20 years of the tournament’s history, only once had a champion been able to retain the crown: in 2014, Rafa Nadal he won the Caja Mágica for the second consecutive year (he has won this event five times in his career). Today, the man from El Palmar aspires to be the second to achieve it.

The curse of the champion in Madrid ‘weighs’ on Alcaraz. For the seventh time in two decades, the reigning king is back in the final. However, except for the previous case of Nadal, the defense of the throne was never successful: It happened to Roger Federer in 2007 and 2010, to Rafa himself in 2015, to Andy Murray in 2016 and to Alexander Zverev. last year, when, precisely, it was Carlitos who beat him in the final. Other great champions that the Madrid Masters 1,000 has had, such as Novak Djokovic or Andre Agassi, did not even reach the final the year after their triumph.

The incentive is already great for Alcaraz, although there is more. At the age of 20 last Friday, a victory today over Jan-Lennard Struff would make the Murcian the youngest tennis player to defend a Masters 1,000 title since Nadal did it in Monte Carlo in 2005. And, in addition, the great streak that Carlos maintains on the Spanish clay is also at stake: he already has 20 consecutive wins and three titles (twice Barcelona and Madrid). He has not lost on the clay of his country since 2021, precisely against a Nadal that he can and wants to emulate today.