The clay-court season rolls into the Caja Magica, where the world’s biggest stars will compete for an ATP Masters 1000 title at the Mutua Madrid Open.

Defending champion Carlos Alcaraz leads the field as the top seed in Madrid, while Daniil Medvedev aims to close the gap on Novak Djokovic in the battle for No. 1 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings.

ATPTour.com looks at 10 things to watch in the Spanish capital.

Alcaraz Defending Champion: Last year, Alcaraz arrived in Madrid off the back of winning the title in Barcelona. The 19-year-old then went on to lift the trophy in the Spanish capital, earning statement wins against Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic. Twelve months on and the top seed enters the clay-court event in the same circumstances, having defeated Stefanos Tsitsipas in the Barcelona final on Sunday. Looking to claim the Barcelona-Madrid double again this year, the Spaniard begins against Ugo Humbert or Emil Ruusuvuori.

Battle For No. 1: With Novak Djokovic missing Madrid due to injury, Alcaraz and Medvedev will look to maintain pressure in the battle for No. 1 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings. Alcaraz, who is defending 1000 points from last year’s title run, is currently 365 points behind Djokovic. If Alcaraz wins Madrid, he is guaranteed to pass Djokovic for World No. 1 just by playing a match in Rome regardless of how Djokovic performs in Italy.

World No. 3 Medvedev trails Djokovic by 1,895 points. The 27-year-old, who has won four tour-level titles this year, is not defending any points in Madrid because he missed last year’s event with an injury. It will be Medvedev’s second clay-court tournament of the season after he advanced to the quarter-finals in Monte-Carlo.

Red-Hot Rublev: Andrey Rublev captured his maiden ATP Masters 1000 crown in Monte-Carlo earlier this month when he defeated Holger Rune in the final. The 25-year-old backed that up with a run to the championship match in Banja Luka. With confidence high, the fifth seed will aim to win his 14th tour-level title in Madrid, where he reached the quarter-finals last year.

Tsitsipas Seeking First Title Of Year: After reaching the quarter-finals in Monte-Carlo, Tsitsipas started to find his best level in Barcelona, where he reached the title match. The 2019 Madrid finalist, who has lifted four trophies on clay, will look to build on that in the Spanish capital and clinch his third ATP Masters 1000 crown.

Can Ruud Regain Form? Casper Ruud has struggled to find his best form this season, suffering third-round defeats in Indian Wells, Miami and Monte-Carlo. The Norwegian did respond in Estoril, where he lifted his ninth clay-court title earlier this month. Ruud’s best result in Madrid came in 2021 when he advanced to the semi-finals. Can he enjoy a similar run this fortnight?

Top 10 Threats: Rune, Felix Auger-Aliassime and Taylor Fritz are seeded sixth, seventh and eighth, respectively, in Madrid. Rune, who is making his Madrid debut, reached the final in Monte-Carlo and lifted his fourth tour-level trophy in Munich last week, while Fritz advanced to the semi-finals at the same events.

Auger-Aliassime will be competing on clay for the first time this season when he takes to court in Madrid. The Canadian advanced to the quarter-finals last year and opens against Jason Kubler or Banja Luka champion Dusan Lajovic.

Trio Aiming To Make Moves In Turin Race: Karen Khachanov, Cameron Norrie and Tommy Paul are ninth, 10th and 11th, respectively, in the Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Turin. Khachanov reached the semi-finals at the Australian Open and in Miami earlier this season, while Norrie captured a clay-court title at the ATP 500 event in Rio de Janeiro. Paul enjoyed a run to the last four at the Australian Open and advanced to the title match in Acapulco. All three will be aiming for deep runs in Madrid to move inside the Top 8 in the Race.

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Former Champions Zverev & Murray In Action: Alexander Zverev and Andy Murray hold fond memories in Madrid. Germany’s Zverev lifted the trophy in 2018 and 2021, while former World No. 1 Murray triumphed in 2008 and 2015. Zverev, who has lifted six tour-level trophies on clay, reached the third round in Monte-Carlo earlier this month. Murray’s best result this season was a run to the final in Doha.

Potential Second-Round Blockbusters: The Madrid draw has thrown up several potential early blockbusters. Medvedev could face Murray in his opener and Tsitsipas could meet former World No. 3 Dominic Thiem in the second round. Rublev will face former World No. 3 Stan Wawrinka in his opening match, should the Swiss defeat Maxime Cressy in the first round.

Koolhof/Skupski Defending Champs: Wesley Koolhof and Neal Skupski overcame Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah to clinch the crown in Madrid last year. Seeking their first title of the season, the top seeds will face competition from Rajeev Ram/Joe Salisbury and Roland Garros champions Marcelo Arevalo/Jean-Julien Rojer in Madrid. Singles stars Rublev, Auger-Aliassime and Fritz are in the draw.

A three-tournament week on the ATP Tour saw Carlos Alcaraz, Holger Rune and Dusan Lajovic lift trophies in Barcelona, Munich and Banja Luka, respectively. ATPTour.com looks at the movers of the week in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings as of Monday, 24 April 2023.

View Pepperstone ATP Rankings

No. 40 Dusan Lajovic, +30
The Serbian has jumped 30 spots after he won his second tour-level title at the Srpska Open in Banja Luka. Lajovic overcame World No. 1 Novak Djokovic and World No. 6 Andrey Rublev en route to the title to earn two Top 10 wins at the same event for the first time. The 32-year-old has now won two tour-level crowns, having triumphed on clay in Umag in 2019. Read Banja Luka Final Report & Watch Highlights.

No. 58 Alex Molcan, +15
The 25-year-old has climbed 15 places after reaching his first semi-final of the season in Banja Luka. The Slovakian, who reached a career-high No. 38 last May, earned three consecutive three-set wins before falling against Andrey Rublev.

No. 93 Dominic Thiem, +8
The Austrian has returned to the Top 100 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings after he enjoyed a run to the quarter-finals at the BMW Open by American Express in Munich. Thiem, who also advanced to the last eight in Estoril earlier this month, defeated Constant Lestienne and Marc-Andrea Huesler at the ATP 250 clay-court event.

Other Notable Top 100 Movers
No. 3 Daniil Medvedev, +1
No. 11 Frances Tiafoe, +1 (Career High)
No. 61 Marcos Giron, + 7
No. 70 Laslo Djere, +8
No. 73 Cristian Garin, +13
No. 74 Nuno Borges, +5
No. 75 Alexei Popyrin, +6
No. 87 Juan Pablo Varillas, +5

The Mutua Madrid Open draw has thrown up a number of potential early blockbusters. Daniil Medvedev could face Andy Murray in his opener and Stefanos Tsitsipas could meet former World No. 3 Dominic Thiem in the second round.

Medvedev will try to add to his Tour-leading 31 wins for 2023 at the clay-court ATP Masters 1000 event. The second seed will face World No. 1 Murray first up if the Briton defeats a qualifier in the first round. Jiri Lehecka, the 31st seed, could meet Medvedev in the third round in the Spanish capital, while Taylor Fritz and Cameron Norrie are potential quarter-final opponents for the 27-year-old.

View Madrid Singles Draw

Fourth seed Tsitsipas awaits two-time Madrid finalist Thiem or former World No. 14 Kyle Edmund as he looks to bounce back from his defeat in the Barcelona final to Carlos Alcaraz.

Fresh from defending an ATP Tour title for the first time in Barcelona, Alcaraz headlines the top half of the draw as the defending champion and top seed. The 19-year-old will play Emil Ruusuvuori or Ugo Humbert first up in Madrid, where he defeated Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic en route to the title a year ago.

The man Alcaraz beat in the 2022 championship match, Alexander Zverev, is a potential fourth-round opponent for the Spaniard this year. A two-time Madrid champion with a 19-3 tournament record, the 13th-seeded Zverev starts against David Goffin or home favourite Roberto Carballes Baena.

Alongside Medvedev and Tsitsipas, the bottom half of the draw also includes seventh seed Felix Auger-Aliassime. The Canadian, who is chasing his maiden Masters 1000 crown, could take on #NextGenATP American Ben Shelton in the third round. Auger-Aliassime opens against Banja Luka champion Dusan Lajovic or Jason Kubler, while the big-serving lefty Shelton meets Lorenzo Sonego or a qualifier.

Andrey Rublev carries significant momentum to Madrid after lifting his maiden Masters 1000 trophy in Monte-Carlo and reaching the Banja Luka final. The fifth seed may face former World No. 3 Stan Wawrinka in his opening match, should the Swiss blunt the serve-and-volleying Maxime Cressy in the first round.

Third seed Casper Ruud opens against a qualifier. The Norwegian, who won his first title of 2023 in Estoril earlier this month, is seeded to meet Lorenzo Musetti in the fourth round. Sixth seed Holger Rune, who saved four championship points against Botic van de Zandschulp en route to his fourth ATP Tour title in Munich on Sunday, will make his Madrid debut against Alexander Bublik or Daniel Elahi Galan. 

Carlos Alcaraz capped a perfect week at the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell on Sunday by outplaying Stefanos Tsitsipas with a high-quality championship-match display at the ATP 500.

The home favourite was in irresistible touch on Pista Rafa Nadal, where he combined fierce ballstriking and deft forehand drop shots with inspired defence to wrap a 6-3, 6-4 victory and claim his ninth tour-level crown. Although he dropped serve in the third game of the match, Alcaraz showed no further sign of nerves in front of his home fans as he powered to a 79-minute triumph against the World No. 5 Tsitsipas.

“It is incredible,” Alcaraz said. “To feel this energy and lift the trophy in Barcelona in front of my family and friends, and most members of my team are here as well. Playing this level and to lift the trophy in front of them is a good feeling for me.”

Alcaraz now holds a 4-0 ATP Head2Head record against Tsitsipas, who was chasing his first Barcelona title on his third championship-match appearance. After defending his 2022 title, the 19-year-old Alcaraz is now 10-1 in Barcelona and has won his past 14 ATP Tour matches on Spanish soil.

“Me and my team were talking before the match about staying relaxed,” said Alcaraz. “To want to play the tough moments. Staying relaxed is the most important part for me. To forget the mistakes, everything and be myself on court. Not to think about all the people watching, but just me, the court, the racquet and the final.”

After Tsitsipas broke for 2-1 early, Alcaraz won five of the next six games to take charge of the fifth all-Top 10 ATP Tour final of 2023. He continued to delight the home crowd with some remarkable shotmaking into the second set, and a solitary break in the fifth game proved enough to clinch the title without having dropped a set all week.

Most Tour-Level Titles Won As A Teenager

The Spaniard was particularly dominant on serve against the big-hitting Tsitisipas. He won 81 per cent (30/37) of points behind his first delivery, numbers he will hope to maintain next week when he also steps on court as defending champion at the Mutua Madrid Open.

With his third ATP Tour title of 2023 (Buenos Aires, Indian Wells), Alcaraz leapfrogged Jannik Sinner into third place in the Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Turin. The No. 2-ranked Spaniard also closed the gap on Novak Djokovic to 365 points in the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings as he bids to return to World No. 1.

Tsitsipas defeated Denis Shapovalov, Alex de Minaur and Lorenzo Musetti en route to his third final in Barcelona, where he fell to Rafael Nadal in the 2018 and 2021 finals. The Greek is now 21-5 for the season, having also reached the final at January’s Australian Open.

Maximo Gonzalez and Andres Molteni continued their impressive season on Sunday when they captured their third tour-level title of the year as qualifiers at the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell.

In a tight clash, the Argentines recovered from squandering one championship point in the second to eventually defeat top seeds Wesley Koolhof and Neal Skupski 6-3, 6-7(8), 10-4.

Gonzalez and Molteni won 80 per cent (37/46) of their first-service points and raced clear in the Match Tie-break to earn their 20th tour-level win together in 2023 in one hour and 52 minutes.

Earlier this season, Gonzalez and Molteni clinched trophies on clay in Cordoba and Rio de Janeiro. With their victory, they have climbed four spots to fourth in the Pepperstone ATP Live Doubles Team Rankings.

Koolkhof and Skupski, who clinched seven titles as a team last year, were seeking their first crown this season.

Holger Rune produced one of the most remarkable comeback wins of the 2023 season so far on Sunday at the BMW Open by American Express, where the top seed battled physical issues and a daunting deficit to beat Botic van de Zandschulp 6-4, 1-6, 7-6(3) in Munich.

Struggling with an upper right arm issue in the latter stages, Rune trailed 2-5, 40/15 on the Van de Zandschulp serve in the third set. Yet he forged an inspired turnaround on the Bavarian clay, ultimately saving four championship points and recovering from twisting his ankle in the 10th game of the decider to dominate the tie-break.

“I was feeling really exhausted but I was fighting until the end and I tried everything I could to come back into the match,” Rune said. “I think for the crowd it was the perfect final. We really pushed each other to the limit and I am super happy I defended the title today.”

With his fourth tour-level title, Rune became the first player to successfully defend an ATP Tour title in 2023. The 19-year-old now holds a perfect 9-0 record at the clay-court ATP 250.

“It is the last match and the last push, so you try to find a way,” Rune said. “It could help me a little bit to not be as hurt. It was a struggle but I managed to get it done.”

Rune prevailed in an intriguing first set after securing a decisive second break of Van de Zandschulp’s serve in the seventh game. The Dutchman became increasingly effective at handling Rune’s variety in the second set, however, as he frequently displayed high-class movement on the clay to counter his opponent’s drop shots.

Van de Zandschulp won seven games in a row from 1-1 in the second set to take command of the match, and looked set to ease to victory as the Dane began to struggle physically. Despite being forced to strike under-powered forehands, Rune kept himself in rallies as a tight Van de Zandschulp failed to serve out the match at 5-2, 5-4, and again at 6-5.

Confidence regained, Rune struck the ball cleanly in the tie-break to seal a famous victory in which he converted five of his 14 break points. With the win, the Dane rises three places to eighth in the Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Turin, the final qualification spot for November’s Nitto ATP Finals.

Dusan Lajovic capped a dream week at the Srpska Open on Sunday when he clinched his second tour-level title in Banja Luka. The Serbian overcame Andrey Rublev 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 in two hours and 32 minutes to snap the second seed’s eight-match winning streak.

Lajovic, who clawed past Miomir Kecmanovic in three sets in the semi-finals, came out firing in his first tour-level title match of the season. He struck the ball aggressively to pull Rublev around and held his nerve in the third set, serving out the match at the second time of asking to earn his eighth Top 10 win.

“Honestly it was probably the toughest match I have had in the past six months. I felt drained,” Lajovic said. “From 5-1 in the third I could not feel my legs and felt a bit dizzy. I knew he was going to fight but somehow I managed to pull it out in the last game. I wasn’t even thinking in the last game. I was just playing automatically and I tried to take the ball early on the forehand. I am thrilled and overwhelmed that I did it this week, that I won an ATP [Tour] title.

“The last time I was in a final was four years ago and I have been through a lot since then, lots of ups and downs. This was probably the most unexpected thing for me for this week. But on the other side I still believed in myself, even though I did not have the best last year. This victory means a lot.”

The 32-year-old now leads Rublev 2-0 in their ATP Head2Head series, having also beaten the 25-year-old en route to his maiden tour-level crown in Umag in 2019. He is up 30 spots to No. 40 in the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings following his impressive week at the clay-court ATP 250.

Lajovic upset World No. 1 Novak Djokovic in the quarter-finals. With his victory against World No. 6 Andrey Rublev, the Serbian has defeated two Top 10 opponents at the same event for the first time in his career.

Rublev was aiming to win his second title of the season after clinching his maiden ATP Masters 1000 trophy in Monte-Carlo last week. The 25-year-old is currently sixth in the Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Turin.

In an entertaining final, Lajovic played well under pressure, saving all three break points he faced in the first set to lead. After a dip at the start of the second set, the Serbian produced his best level in the third set, limiting errors from the baseline to earn his 14th win of the year on his third championship point.

Alexander Erler and Lucas Miedler captured their second tour-level title of the season together on Sunday when they overcome top seeds Kevin Krawietz and Tim Puetz 6-3, 6-4 in the BMW Open by American Express final.

The Austrians were impressive throughout the 70-minute clash, closing the net sharply and holding their nerves in the key moments. They saved all three break points they faced to triumph in Munich.

“Munich is not that far from Austria, so it was great to play in front of the crowd with the great atmosphere,” Miedler said. “There were a lot of Austrians here as well. It was enjoyable to play here. I think we played amazing today, just too good.”

Erler and Miedler, who dropped just one set en route to the title, have now won four tour-level trophies since they first teamed in 2021. Earlier this year they won the crown in Acapulco, while their victory in Munich is their second on clay. Two years ago, the pair won their first title on the surface on home soil in Kitzbühel.

“It is our fourth title and we are really happy that we got it,” Erler said. “It was a really great week for us.”

Germans Krawietz and Puetz were aiming to win their first tour-level title as a team at the ATP 250 clay-court tournament. The 31-year-old Krawietz is a two-time champion in Munich, having triumphed in 2021 with Wesley Koolhof and in 2022 with Andreas Mies.

Andrey Rublev has become a fans’ favourite. Much to his supporters’ delight, the 25-year-old was put on the hot seat in this week’s edition of ATP Uncovered.

Stars from the ATP Tour and the Hologic WTA Tour provided questions for Rublev to answer.

“Seeing Daniil on video, I don’t like it already,” Rublev said when his close friend Daniil Medvedev popped up on the screen.

Read & Watch More From ATP Uncovered

Little did Rublev know that Medvedev would ask three questions, whether the World No. 6 liked it or not.

Medvedev was not the only one who asked cheeky questions. One player wanted to know, “Why do you make that one really distinct noise when you grunt?”

Find out who asked that question, Rublev’s answer and more by watching the full feature above.