Alcaraz calms ankle concerns at US Open
Word spread quickly Saturday on the grounds of the US Open that Carlos Alcaraz had cut his training session short because of a turned ankle. Would the freak accident jeopardise his US Open hopes?
Alcaraz put those concerns to bed quickly later in the day during his pre-tournament press conference.
“I wasn’t worried at all for my US Open participation. Obviously I was angry because I don’t want to stop the practice, just to respect [Francisco] Cerundolo, as well. I don’t want to stop any practice. I want to practise, I want to get better, I want to get ready for the tournament,” Alcaraz said. “But honestly with the ankle, I wasn’t worried about that. So I’m sure that tomorrow or in two days I’m going to be at my 100 per cent, for sure. It’s about time.”
The Spaniard, who will begin his tournament on Tuesday against Li Tu of Australia explained that he only stopped his practice as a precaution.
“I didn’t feel comfortable enough to keep practising just in case if everything is going to be worse,” Alcaraz said. “But after a few hours later, I’m still feeling good, my feet, so tomorrow I will try to be practising again 100 per cent without thinking about it. But today I’ll take care [of] it.”
The third seed has happy memories in New York, where he claimed his first major title in 2022. That year, by lifting the trophy, he became the youngest World No. 1 in the history of the PIF ATP Rankings.
Now Alcaraz is a four-time Grand Slam champion who this year has emerged victorious at Roland Garros and Wimbledon. The only blemish for him in recent months was at the Paris Olympics, where the 21-year-old suffered a devastating defeat in the gold-medal match to Novak Djokovic.
“This was one of the most important finals of my career, of my life,” Alcaraz said. “I know that the Olympic Games is every four years, so I don’t know if I’m going to have another chance to win the gold. I’m going to fight for it, for sure, the next Olympics Games. But it was a difficult moment to deal for me, losing the gold medal in a really close match that I had opportunities.”
[ATP APP]In his only tournament since that match, Alcaraz lost his opening match at the Cincinnati Open to Gael Monfils. Is the Spaniard worried about his lack of hard-court reps entering Flushing Meadows?
“It doesn’t matter for me. Obviously I [would] have loved to have more matches on my belt on hard court before the US Open. But it doesn’t affect me at all,” Alcaraz said. “If I look back a little bit, for example, [entering] Roland Garros, I [didn’t have] too [many] matches on clay, and it was a pretty good result. And then in Wimbledon, same thing. So I don’t want to think that it’s going to be the same [as] the previous two Grand Slams, but I’m not worried about not having too many matches on hard court.”
Alcaraz this year has proven he loves the big stage, shining brightest at the majors. The 15-time tour-level titlist explained to the media why he feels he causes so many problems for his opponents.
“I think I’m always pushing my opponents to the limit. I’m trying to be aggressive all the time, just to play different shots,” Alcaraz said. “I think that I’m going to say the worst thing for my opponent, they are not going to know what’s going to be next. They have to be aggressive. They have to defend well if they want to be alive in the point. I think I’m going to say that’s the worst thing for my opponents about my game.”
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