{"id":43201,"date":"2025-04-23T01:10:49","date_gmt":"2025-04-23T01:10:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=43201"},"modified":"2025-04-23T01:10:49","modified_gmt":"2025-04-23T01:10:49","slug":"rafael-nadal-names-his-favourite-to-win-the-madrid-open-and-its-not-novak-djokovic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=43201","title":{"rendered":"Rafael Nadal names his favourite to win the Madrid Open – and it’s not Novak Djokovic"},"content":{"rendered":"
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<\/header>\n
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\"Rafael<\/figure>\n

Rafael Nadal speaks at a press conference<\/p>\n

Rafael Nadal has revealed why his Spanish compatriot Carlos Alcaraz is his favourite to win the 2025 Madrid Open title.<\/p>\n

Alcaraz is a two-time Madrid champion, having won the Masters 1000 tournament in 2022 and 2023.<\/p>\n

The 21-year-old was struggling with an arm injury when he played in Madrid last year and lost in the quarter-finals to eventual winner Andrey Rublev.<\/p>\n

The world No 3 arrives in the Spanish capital after an excellent start to the clay-court season, although there is some concern over his physical condition.<\/p>\n

After winning the Monte Carlo Masters, Alcaraz reached the final at the Barcelona Open, where his nine-match winning streak was ended by Holger Rune.<\/p>\n

The Spaniard sustained an abductor injury early in the second set of the 6-7(6), 2-6 loss to his Danish rival.<\/p>\n

Alcaraz and Nadal both attended the 2025 Laureus World Sports Awards ceremony in Madrid on the eve of the tournament.<\/p>\n

During the ceremony, Nadal backed Alcaraz when\u00a0asked to name his favourite to win the Madrid Open.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, in the end, if Carlos Alcaraz is in good shape, I think he is always the favourite,\u201d the 22-time major champion said.<\/p>\n

Nadal won a record five titles at the Madrid Open, with four on clay and one on indoor hard-court in 2005 before the event switched surfaces in 2009.<\/p>\n

Tennis News<\/h2>\n

Rafael Nadal wins prestigious Laureus Award \u2013 and reveals why he doesn\u2019t miss tennis<\/p>\n

Carlos Alcaraz injury rumours swirl as he gets big Madrid Open boost<\/p>\n

Following the Barcelona final, Alcaraz shed light on his injury and revealed he did not expect it to derail his Madrid campaign.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere 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,\u201d the four-time Grand Slam winner said in his press conference.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\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

Alcaraz will face either Zizou Bergs or Yoshihito Nishioka in his opening match in Madrid.<\/p>\n

READ NEXT:\u00a0Everything Carlos Alcaraz said after losing to Holger Rune in Barcelona Open final
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/section>\n<\/article>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rafael Nadal has revealed his favourite to win the 2025 Madrid Open title.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":43202,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-43201","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tennis"],"yoast_head":"\nRafael Nadal names his favourite to win the Madrid Open - and it's not Novak Djokovic - 24\/7 News America<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=43201\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Rafael Nadal names his favourite to win the Madrid Open - and it's not Novak Djokovic - 24\/7 News America\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Rafael Nadal has revealed his favourite to win the 2025 Madrid Open title.\u00a0\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=43201\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"24\/7 News America\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-04-23T01:10:49+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/3-143.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1536\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Admin\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=43201\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=43201\",\"name\":\"Rafael Nadal names his favourite to win the Madrid Open - 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