NEW YORK — Carlos Alcaraz minimize brief a US Open coaching session on Saturday after twisting his proper ankle however stated he is not anxious that it will likely be an issue for the 12 months’s final Grand Slam match.
“I feel it’s OK. I simply stopped my follow only for precaution,” stated the 21-year-old from Spain, who received the championship at Flushing Meadows in 2022 for the primary of his 4 main trophies. “I did not really feel snug sufficient to maintain practising, simply in case if every little thing goes to be worse.”
Alcaraz stated he did not assume the damage would put his participation within the US Open unsure. He was extra upset about dropping time on courtroom as he will get able to attempt to win what can be a 3rd consecutive Slam title after triumphs on the French Open in June and Wimbledon in July.
“I do not need to cease any follow. I need to follow, I need to get higher, I need to prepare for the match,” he stated, including, “I am positive that tomorrow, or in two days, I’ll be at 100%, for positive.”
The third-seeded Alcaraz is scheduled to play his first-round match Tuesday night time in Arthur Ashe Stadium in opposition to 188th-ranked Australian Li Tu, who will likely be showing in simply the second Grand Slam match of his profession.
For Alcaraz, the preparation has not been perfect. He performed just one match on a tough courtroom within the lead-up to the US Open — a loss to Gael Monfils on the Cincinnati Open throughout which Alcaraz destroyed his racket by repeatedly hitting it in opposition to the courtroom, one thing he later apologized for on social media.
The shortage of hard-court work does not concern Alcaraz, even when he did acknowledge he’d choose to have had extra earlier than attending to New York.
In spite of everything, he famous, he did not play quite a lot of matches on clay earlier than this 12 months’s French Open due to a lingering forearm problem and solely performed two on grass earlier than Wimbledon — and left each of these occasions because the champion.
“I do not need to assume that it should be the identical [as] the earlier two Grand Slams,” he stated with a smile, “however I am not anxious about not having too many matches on onerous courts.”
Alcaraz additionally mirrored on his most up-to-date high-profile contest: a two-tiebreaker loss to Novak Djokovic within the males’s singles last on the Paris Olympics three weeks in the past. The tears flowed after that one, and Alcaraz stated that day he felt dangerous for letting his nation down.
“It was a tough second to deal [with] for me,” Alcaraz stated Saturday. “However in entrance of me, I had a extremely good participant that was combating for a similar factor as me. And he deserve it. So days after the Olympics, I spotted that I received the silver medal. It was a terrific achievement for me that I’ve to be happy with. I will attempt to hold going, attempt to be taught [from] this match. … The subsequent necessary matches of my profession, I’ll deal [with] another way, or a greater approach, than I did within the Olympics.”
