"I cry more out of frustration than happiness" - Carlos Alcaraz opens up about rare emotional breakdowns over injury struggles before French Open

Carlos Alcaraz had an increasingly difficult time coping with his forearm injury during this year's European claycourt season. While the Spaniard still managed to win the French Open, he expressed dissatisfaction with having to sit out of big tournaments in the lead-up.

Alcaraz was in red hot form as he successfully emphatically defended his 2023 Indian Wells in March. However, the 21-year-old was forced to withdraw from the Monte-Carlo Masters — the first of the three big tournaments in the clay swing — the following month due to a right forearm injury.

Carlos Alcaraz pulled out from the Barcelona Open as well, a few weeks later, citing the above injury. The Spaniard then played his first ATP event in a month at the Madrid Masters, where he was the defending champion, but lost to Andrey Rublev in the quarterfinals.

Just before the Rome Masters, Alcaraz's forearm niggles seemingly worsened, prompting him to withdraw from the tournament at the last moment. The youngster wasn't deterred by his struggles, though, demonstrating incredible resilience to win his third Major title at the French Open last week.

Speaking to Marca in the aftermath of his triumph in Paris, the World No. 2 revealed that withdrawing from the tournaments in Monte Carlo, Barcelona, and Rome had put him in emotional distress.

"I tend to cry more out of frustration than out of happiness," Carlos Alcaraz told Marca. "I don't cry a lot and with the topic of the last injury I have cried a couple of times when I had to miss tournaments that I was very excited about."

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Carlos Alcaraz on playing doubles with Rafael Nadal at Paris Olympics 2024: "We will try to adapt in the best way possible ahead of the Games"

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Carlos Alcaraz recently touched upon entering the doubles competition at the 2024 Paris Olympics partnering Rafael Nadal. The 21-year-old disclosed that since his ATP Tour schedule was likely to be jam-packed in the next two months, he didn't have the time to practice with the 22-time Major winner.

"Well, in principle my calendar, now, is Queens, Wimbledon, and the Olympic Games," Carlos Alcaraz told Radio Marca. "I don't think we have time to prepare for the doubles with Nadal."

That said, Alcaraz was willing to put his trust in Nadal's abilities as he recounted how the Spaniard had won multiple gold medals at the quadrennial event.

"Rafa knows how to pick up the pace in the doubles," he added. "He knows what it is to play and win the gold in both singles and doubles, we will try to adapt in the best way possible ahead of the Games."