Carlos Alcaraz, the world number one, is back in action after two weeks of rest. The Spanish tennis player, who recently won the Australian Open and became the youngest man to win a Grand Slam, will compete in the Doha tournament, which kicks off this Monday. However, the Murcian will take to the court on Tuesday to face French player Arthur Rinderknech. Alcaraz skipped the Rotterdam tournament, which he won last year, to approach this 500-level event with full energy. In Doha, he will face Italian Jannik Sinner. The 22-year-old Spaniard, who recently stopped in Bahrain to meet Formula 1 drivers Fernando Alonso and Carlos Sainz, arrived in Doha a few hours ago and began preparatory sessions. The last Spaniard to win in Doha was Roberto Bautista in 2022 and 2019. The 38-year-old Serb, on the other hand, wants to focus on major tournaments. In Alcaraz's section of the draw, after Rinderknech, are also Frenchman Valentin Royer, Russian Karen Khachanov, Spaniard Jaume Munar, and Hungarian Marton Fucsovics. In potential semifinals, Russians Daniil Medvedev and Andrey Rublev, or Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas could meet. Sinner, whom Alcaraz would only meet in the final, will play his first match against Czech Tomas Machac. He will be followed by Australian Alexei Popyrin, and then Czech Jakub Mensik or Chinese Zhizhen Zhang. In the semifinals, third seed Alexander Bublik, Frenchman Arthur Fils, and Czech Jiri Lehecka could play. This is also a return to competition for the player from San Candido after his semifinal loss at the Australian Open to Serbian Novak Djokovic. The Murcian, who had resumed training in El Palmar, is now fully immersed in competition again, accompanied by coach Samu López and his brother Álvaro. The expedition also includes a physiotherapist, a physical trainer, and agent Albert Molina. Amid the noise and debate surrounding the comparison between Alcaraz and Sinner and the legendary 'Big Three', in which Djokovic is still active, the action in Doha begins on Monday. Alcaraz will start his run through the draw on Tuesday in the second round as the top seed. His path seems more complicated, but he sees the season as a new challenge, with the short-term goal of reclaiming the world number one ranking. The Italian, who lost points in Australia where he won in 2024 and 2025, has a good outlook until the Rome tournament. Alcaraz has a 2850-point advantage. Sinner has faced Machac, ranked 31st, twice, winning both times in 2024, in the Miami Masters 1000 quarterfinals and the Shanghai Masters 1000. The Frenchman's profile grew after the last Shanghai Masters 1000 when he lost the final to his cousin, the Monegasque Valentin Vacherot, the revelation of that tournament and the champion. The Frenchman, who has no trophies to his name besides the Shanghai final, also played in the Adelaide final in 2022. Serbian Novak Djokovic, the tournament champion in 2016 and 2017, had also planned to play, but after losing the final of the first Grand Slam of the year, he chose to skip this week of competition. Other main attractions in the Doha tournament lineup are Kazakh Alexander Bublik, who was crushed by Felix Auger-Aliassime in Rotterdam semifinals, and Frenchman Arthur Fils, who awaits a qualifier. David Ferrer won it in 2015 and Rafael Nadal in 2014. Last year, Rublev, the defending champion, and Russian Khachanov won the tournament. The last three editions of the tournament have been won by Russians. He was suspended for three months last season for doping. Alcaraz has played the Frenchman four times, winning all four matches. Everything he does until then will add to his points total. His first opponent in the race for the title and in the calculations for the fight for number one with Sinner is Rinderknech, a 30-year-old player ranked 28th in the ATP rankings.
