Latest
Tournament Feature

Alcaraz's Rotterdam debut: Bouncing back & the chase for indoor success

Spaniard is top seed at hard-court ATP 500
February 03, 2025
Carlos Alcaraz began his 2025 season with a quarter-final run at the Australian Open.
Peter Staples/ATP Tour
Carlos Alcaraz began his 2025 season with a quarter-final run at the Australian Open. By Andy West

For the first time, Carlos Alcaraz is bringing his gripping blend of shotmaking flair and on-court charisma to the ABN AMRO Open.

The No. 3 in the PIF ATP Rankings is the top seed for the 2025 edition of the indoor hard-court event, where he will seek a strong reaction following his quarter-final exit at the Australian Open. Yet that is not the only aspect to look out for from the Spaniard's maiden campaign in Rotterdam.

With main-draw play at the ABN AMRO Open set to begin on Monday 3 February, ATPTour.com breaks down five things to watch from Alcaraz’s Rotterdam debut.

It All Adds Up

1) Mission To Master The Indoors
Alcaraz has done plenty of winning in a variety of conditions since he broke onto the ATP Tour in 2021, but the 16-time tour-level champion is yet to reach a championship match indoors. He nonetheless holds a winning 25-12 record in tour-level matches indoors, according to the Infosys ATP Win/Loss Index, and the Spaniard believes it is only a matter of time before he masters conditions that he is not overly familiar with.

“I'll be a really good player on indoor courts, I'm sure about it,” said Alcaraz at the 2024 Nitto ATP Finals. “But I think it's about time, about getting experience, getting matches in my back, hitting on indoor courts. I don't feel that I'm a bad player indoors, but probably I'm going to say [right now] a lot of players are better than me on indoor courts.”

2) Right On Top Of His Rivals
Even given his relative lack of indoor experience, Alcaraz will head to Rotterdam knowing he has a mental edge over several of his biggest rivals in the field.

Three other Top 10 stars are also in the draw: Daniil Medvedev, Andrey Rublev and Alex de Minaur. Medvedev and Rublev are both former champions at the ABN AMRO Open, while De Minaur reached the 2024 championship match. Yet Alcaraz leads all three players in their respective Lexus ATP Head2Head series.

The 21-year-old is 6-2 against Medvedev, 2-1 against Rublev and 2-0 against De Minaur. He also leads 2-1 against Holger Rune, who will compete as the fifth seed in Rotterdam this year, and 6-0 against this year's sixth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas.

3) ‘Bouncebackability’
Alcaraz made a solid start to his 2025 season with a quarter-final run at the Australian Open, but the reigning Roland Garros and Wimbledon champion sets himself high standards and he will be seeking an immediate response to his defeat to Novak Djokovic in Melbourne. If Alcaraz’s reaction to the Djokovic loss is at all similar to his previous defeat at a major, fans in Rotterdam could be in for a treat.

The Spaniard bounced back from his shock loss to Botic van de Zandschulp at the 2024 US Open with a 12-match winning streak. That run included Alcaraz inspiring Team Europe to Laver Cup glory in Berlin as well as a title run at the China Open, where he overcame his great rival and World No. 1 Jannik Sinner in a three-hour, 21-minute final epic in Beijing.

You May Also Like: Alcaraz: Despite Djokovic defeat, ‘I’m lucky to live this experience’

4) Alcaraz: An ATP 500 Ace
Since making his ATP 500 debut in Rio de Janeiro in 2020, Alcaraz has racked up a 44-11 record at that level, a tally that includes five title runs across all three surfaces: clay (Rio de Janeiro 2022, Barcelona 2022 & 2023) grass (Queen’s Club 2023) and hard (Beijing 2024).

The former World No. 1 will be hoping to put together a strong series of tournaments at that level in 2025 as he bids to top the ATP 500 Bonus Pool for the first time. He can kick-start his bid with a strong maiden campaign at Rotterdam Ahoy.

5) Time For Spanish History In Rotterdam?
Spain has produced plenty of ATP Tour greats over the years, several of whom have competed at past editions of the ABN AMRO Open. Yet no Spaniard has ever managed to claim the title in Rotterdam.

Rafael Nadal is the most recent Spanish finalist at the ATP 500. The legendary lefty reached the championship match in 2009, when Andy Murray defeated him in three sets. The only other countryman of Alcaraz to have contested a Rotterdam final is someone he knows particularly well: his coach, Juan Carlos Ferrero, fell to Lleyton Hewitt in the 2004 final. Can Ferrero this year inspire his charge to go one step further than he managed himself at Rotterdam Ahoy?

Read More News View All News

View Related Videos View All Videos

DOWNLOAD OFFICIAL ATP WTA LIVE APP

Get it on Google Play Download on the App Store

Partners

Premier Partner

Platinum Partners

Gold Partners

Official Ball, Racquet and Tennis Accessory

Official Partners & Suppliers