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After his triumph in the Monte-Carlo Masters final, Carlos Alcaraz shared that he is paying little attention to rankings in tennis. He also looked ahead to a possible French Open final clash against Jannik Sinner.
Alcaraz was off to a good start at the 2025 Australian Open, but he succumbed to tennis titan Novak Djokovic in three sets in the quarterfinals. The Spaniard followed it up by winning the title at ATP Rotterdam, where he displayed some strong finishes. He entered the Monte-Carlo Masters as a heavy favorite and lived up to that billing.
Alcaraz went up against Lorenzo Musetti and defeated him 3-6, 6-1, 6-0 in the final, after the latter showed signs of physical issues. Following this achievement, he is set to move up a place and displace Alexander Zverev in the rankings, right behind the top ranked Jannik Sinner.
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Now on his way to defend his French Open title, Carlos Alcaraz stated that rankings don't matter to him anymore. Rather, he would focus more on the fun of the sport moving forward.
“Talking about the things that I learned the last couple of months… is not thinking about anything else but enjoying on court. Something that I realized that I had to do is not thinking about anything else but enjoying. So I'm not thinking about the ranking anymore. Just keep going, making the things that I enjoy, that make me happy. It is [stepping] on the court, showing good tennis, and that's it," he said via ATP Tour.
The four-time Grand Slam champion added (via The Tennis Letter):
"If I win, it is great. If I don't win, I will learn and just keep going and making the things that make me happy. So the ranking is not my priority anymore, and let's see what's gonna happen the next month until Roland Garros. Jannik and I, yeah, probably the people want that in the final. So let's see.”
Alcaraz is next slated to be in action at the Barcelona Open, where he will be the top seed.
Carlos Alcaraz wasn't happy to secure the win over a physically struggling opponent at the Monte-Carlo Masters
Carlos Alcaraz had never won the Monte-Carlo Masters title, but his plan wasn't to win against someone visibly struggling physically throughout the match. Lorenzo Musetti was experiencing discomfort in his upper right leg and the Spaniard defeated him comfortably despite losing the first set.
Reflecting on that and wishing for Lorenzo's rapid recovery, the latter said:
"This is not the way I want to win a match," Alcaraz said during the post-match interview. "Thinking about Lorenzo, he’s been through a really tough week, long and intense matches. I just feel sorry for him to end one of the best results he’s done like this. It’s not easy. Hopefully it’s nothing serious and he will be 100% really soon."
In his last clay court event before his Monte-Carlo triumph, Carlos Alcaraz faced off against Novak Djokovic in the men's singles final at the 2024 Paris Olympics. Despite his best efforts, he lost to the Serb in straight sets and had to settle for a silver medal.
