Carlos Alcaraz has struggled to start his 2024 campaign on the right foot. But on Wednesday, he shared an encouraging update about a worrying right ankle injury he suffered less than 24 hours earlier at the Rio Open.
The 2022 US Open champion turned his ankle on the second point of his opening match at the ATP 500 and retired after two games against Thiago Monteiro. Despite initial fears, an MRI revealed a positive diagnosis: a grade two lateral sprain that Alcaraz expects to keep him off the court for just a few days.
That news means Alcaraz will likely be fit to defend his Indian Wells title, with the ATP Masters 1000 event set to begin main-draw play in two weeks, on March 6.
Following his retirement in Rio de Janeiro, Alcaraz's match record in 2024 sits at 6-3. He opened the season with a quarterfinal run at the Australian Open, where he was beaten in four sets by Alexander Zverev, and was upset by Nicolas Jarry last week in the Buenos Aires semifinals.
While Alcaraz's ankle injury appeared unsettlingly similar to the far more serious one Zverev suffered at Roland Garros in 2022, the Spaniard was able to resume playing after his fall and even broke serve to lead 1-0 against Monteiro. But it soon became apparent that he would not be able to continue on the Brazilian clay.
“I felt [that it was] bad. That was the first impression I had," Alcaraz said after the match. "I was feeling pain once I fell down, so I thought that it was going to be difficult to continue playing if I was still having those feelings.
“After a few points it didn't feel better. I was feeling the pain. I couldn't move well, and I knew that it was going to be impossible to continue. I thought it was going to get worse if I kept playing for such a long match and that’s why I choose to retire.”
Alcaraz is guaranteed to remain at No. 2 in the ATP rankings at least through the end of Indian Wells, where he will be defending 1,000 points as the reigning champion. But Jannik Sinner—fueled by titles at the Australian Open and Rotterdam—is hot on his heels, just 535 points behind in the live rankings. The Italian is a perfect 12-0 this season.
The two young superstars met in the semifinals at both Indian Wells (Alcaraz won in straight sets) and Miami (Sinner in three) last season. If they meet again deep in those events on the Sunshine Double, the results could determine who leaves with rankings supremacy between the pair.
