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After losing his top spot to Jannik Sinner following a loss in the Monte Carlo Masters, the world number two and Spanish tennis sensation Carlos Alcaraz has a shot to regain the top ranking on home soil this week at the Barcelona Open.
The world number two in the ATP Rankings is the top seed in the tournament, a clay court ATP 500 tournament and is chasing his third title after his 2022 and 2023 triumphs. Alcaraz fell to Sinner in the Monte Carlo Masters final and lost his run at the top in the 66th week. Alcaraz had made it to the final at the Barcelona a year back but lost to Holger Rune, and Alcaraz is defending 330 ATP Ranking points in action, with Sinner not in action. If Alcaraz beats Otto Virtanen in his opening match on Tuesday, he would get to face a former top 20 opponent in the second round, either Tomas Machac or Sebastian Baez. He is also seeded to meet Andrey Rublev in the quarters and Alex de Minaur in the semifinals. The world number nine, Lorenzo Musetti, is the second seed. Alcaraz needs to win the tournament for the top ranking. "I would not miss him (Sinner) this week," Alcaraz said before his first-ever ATP Head2Head meeting with Virtanen. I saw that I have to win the tournament here if I want to get the number one rank back. I think the battle between Jannik and me is great. I think it probably provides extra motivation," he added. If Alcaraz manages to earn a return to number one, he will tie with his rival Sinner's tally for having spent 67 weeks at the top spot and would be heading to the Madrid Open as the world number one. During that ATP Masters 1000 event, neither Alcaraz nor Sinner had any points to defend. Madrid Open starts from April 22. Alcaraz has 3,000 points to defend across Internazionali BNL d'Italia in Rome and the French Open, both of the tournaments which he won back in 2025. On the other hand, Sinner will have 1,950 points to defend during the same time frame, having lost to Alcaraz in both Rome and French Open finals a year back. (ANI)
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