Opinion: Not a big surprise that Carlos Alcaraz withdrew from the 2025 Davis Cup

Carlos Alcaraz (Facebook)

The 2025 Davis Cup Finals began on Tuesday from Bologna, Italy. One of the biggest stories heading into the Finals was the fact that Spain is without world number two Carlos Alcaraz of El Palmar, Spain. The reason of Alcaraz’s withdrawal is a hamstring injury according to Marc Berman of The Palm Beach Post. 

The fact that Alcaraz withdrew from the Davis Cup is not a huge surprise, however. That is because the Davis Cup just does not hold the same level of significance as major tournaments do. Yes, it is a prestigious team tennis tournament where players represent their individual nations, but players generally do not compete if they have minor nagging ailments.

Alcaraz is also coming off a significant performance in Turin, where he reached the final of the 2025 ATP World Tour Finals, but lost 7-6, 7-5 to Italy’s Jannik Sinner. With Alcaraz absent from the tournament, we expect to see Pablo Carreno Busta playing a key role in singles action. Carreno Busta is a two-time grand slam semifinalist in men’s singles (2022 and 2025, both at the US Open).

Spain will be playing the Czech Republic in quarterfinal action on Thursday. The winner of Spain/Czech Republic will play the winner of Germany and Argentina. Meanwhile, the other semifinal has been determined. Italy will play Belgium. Italy beat Austria 2-0, and Belgium beat France 2-0.

Italy is the clear favourite to win the title as they are the defending champions. They could be challenged by a German squad that has world number three and three-time grand slam finalist Alexander Zverev.