World No.3 Carlos Alcaraz will be making his debut at the Rotterdam Open and will face Botic van de Zandschulp in the first round.
Carlos Alcaraz (Images via X)
Carlos Alcaraz, following a disappointing Australian Open campaign, will be in action at the Rotterdam Open. Alcaraz was eyeing the Career Grand Slam but was defeated by 10-time Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic in the quarterfinals.
Though Alcaraz has ample amount of time to reach that feat, his goal at present is to win the Rotterdam Open. The youngster from Murcia, after World No.1 Jannik Sinner‘s withdrawal, will be the top seed in the ATP 500 which he will be playing for the first time.
But upon his arrival at the airport, reports emerged that he took a budget airline to Rotterdam. Because of this, he had to wait for 90 minutes for his luggage.
As per Spanish tennis journalist Manuel Sanchez, Alcaraz, who has an estimated net worth of $40 million, has been offered a deal with a private jet airline for easy travel but he rejected it. Tournament director Jan Kooijman also welcomed him with flowers and the traditional stroopwafels.
In the ATP event in Rotterdam, Alcaraz is set to start his campaign against World No.84 Botic van de Zandschulp. It was the Dutchman who upset Alcaraz in the second round of last year’s US Open.
The upcoming match will be their fourth encounter on the ATP Tour after the 2021 Australian Open, 2022 Swiss Indoors, and the 2024 US Open. Alcaraz leads 2-1 in the head-to-head encounter against the 29-year-old.
Several tennis players got engaged in the off-season last year. And Carlos Alcaraz too was asked if he’s still ‘on the market’ by Andrea Petkovic following an exhibition event against Alex de Minaur in Australia just before the Melbourne Slam.
Minaur got engaged to British tennis ace Katie Boulter and Alcaraz also expressed the possibility of finding his partner this year. But the 21-year-old, while congratulating De Minaur and Boulter, declared that he was ‘single so far‘.
Nick Kyrgios, however, didn’t seem to buy that. When, during the Get Set Tennis podcast, he was asked to describe Alcaraz, his answer was, ‘Females, he loves females’.
Watch the video here:
While Alcaraz has yet to reveal anything about his dating life, he has been linked to Maria Gonzalez Gimenez, who, like the tennis pro lives in Murcia. Last year, the four-time Grand Slam champion, when asked to name his future wife by internet celebrity Daniel Fernandez, had said that it’s ‘Maria’.
