Carlos Alcaraz ‘wasn’t worried’ about US Open participation despite injury scare

Carlos Alcaraz has played down concerns about his US Open participation, after the Spaniard was forced to end his practice session early following an ankle injury scare.

Alcaraz was practicing with Argentine Francisco Cerundolo yesterday in New York, with the 21-year-old appearing to jolt his ankle after just 15 minutes.

This prompted Alcaraz and his team to bring an end to the practice, causing concerns for fans of the four-time Grand Slam champion.

However, the World No.3 provided some reassurance when speaking in his press conference later in the day, “Well, I think it is okay. You know, I just stop my practice just for precaution. I didn’t feel comfortable enough to keep practicing just in case if everything is going to be worse.

“But, you know, after a few hours later, I still feeling good, you know, my feet, so tomorrow I will try to be practicing again 100% without thinking about it, but today I’ll take care about it.”

Alcaraz went onto admit that he had no doubts over whether he would compete at the US Open, “I mean, 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 Cerundolo, as well. I don’t want to stop any practice. I want to practice, I want to get better, I want to get ready for the tournament.

“But honestly with the ankle, I wasn’t worried about that. So I’m sure that, you know, tomorrow or in two days I’m going to be my at 100%, for sure. It’s about time.”

After his Paris Olympic final defeat to Novak Djokovic, Alcaraz has only played one match on hard courts after losing early in Cincinnati to Gael Monfils.

Despite his lack of match practice ahead of the US Open, Alcaraz did not seem too concerned about his chances at the New York major, drawing comparisons to his success at Roland Garros and Wimbledon earlier this year.

“Well, it doesn’t matter for me. Obviously I have loved to have more matches on my belt on hard court before the US Open. But, I mean, it doesn’t affect me at all,” explained Carlos Alcaraz. “If I look back a little bit, you know, for example, facing the Roland Garros, I hadn’t too much matches on clay, and it was a pretty good result. And then in Wimbledon, same thing, you know.”

He continued, “So I don’t want to think that it’s going to be the same, you know, than the previous two Grand Slams, but I’m not worried about not having too many matches on hard court.”

Alcaraz looks to have brushed the ankle scare off fairly quickly, as he appears on today’s practice schedule with compatriot Pablo Carreno-Busta.

The 2022 US Open champion will begin his campaign in New York on Tuesday against Australian qualifier Li Tu.

Countdown! ⏰🔥🤩 @usopen

📸 Getty pic.twitter.com/66NSh0dGWN

— Carlos Alcaraz (@carlosalcaraz) August 23, 2024

Inside the baseline…

There was a lot of concern for Carlos Alcaraz after he decided very quickly to end his practice session, even more so as this is not the only ankle scare he has had this year. Alcaraz had a very poor showing in Cincinnati, but like he said a lack of match practice did not hold him back at Roland Garros or Wimbledon. This is perhaps due to the best-of-five set format, where Alcaraz seems to excel like most of the top players have over the years.

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