Carlos Alcaraz has been dethroned from the top of the ATP ranking by Jannik Sinner, losing the final in Monte-Carlo, but the Spaniard has another shot at the top of the ranking this week, as he is scheduled to play in the ATP 500 Barcelona Open, also known as the Conde de Godó tournament.
Last year, he was finalist, losing to Holger Rune, but Alcaraz knows what it's like to win here, doing so in 2022 and 2023. And the Italian will take this week to rest, to focus on the Madrid Open next week, so his rival will not add any more points.
Alcaraz defends 330 points from last year, so lifting the trophy is the only scenario in which Alcaraz would pass Sinner again in the ATP ranking, currently separated by only 160 points. If Alcaraz loses before the final, the gap between the two would widen.
Carlos Alcaraz's path in Barcelona
Alcaraz is scheduled to play against the Finnish player Otto Virtanen on Tuesday. After that, he could face Tomas Machac or Sebastián Báez in round of 16. Things will get really complicated in semi-finals, where he could face Alex de Miñaur (third seed) or Jack Draper. In the final, he could face with the second seed of the tournament, another Italian, Lorenzo Musetti.
The good news is that, next week, Alcaraz won't be dropping any more points as he missed the Madrid Open last year. And Sinner, while scheduled for Madrid, said that he will take two or three days to rest and then decide if he will go to Madrid or not: according to Punto de Break, he may consider sitting this one out to focus on Rome (where he lost to Alcaraz last year) and reach Roland Garros in better shape.