Carlos Alcaraz twisted his right ankle during a Saturday practice session with Francisco Cerundolo at the US Open, forcing him to cut short his session with the Argentine. In an afternoon press conference, the 2022 New York champ confirmed the stoppage was "just for precaution" and that he has no lingering concerns about the tweak.
Judging by his Arthur Ashe Kids' Day appearance with Dude Perfect later in the afternoon—in which he scored a goal in a soccer competition with his best Cristiano Ronaldo impression—the Spaniard will be all systems go for his Tuesday opener against Aussie qualifier Li Tu.
"I didn't feel comfortable enough to keep practicing just in case if everything is going to be worse," he explained. "But after a few hours later, I'm 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."
Asked about his level of concern at the moment of the tweak, he further downplayed the issue: "I wasn't worried at all for my US Open participation," he explained. "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 tomorrow or in two days I'm going to be my at 100%, for sure. It's about time."
With just one hard-court match this summer entering New York—a shock defeat to Gael Monfils in Cincinnati—Alcaraz is eager to fine tune his game on the Flushing floors. But he's not concerned with his lack of match play on the surface.
"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," he said. "If I look back a little bit, for example, [at] Roland Garros, I hadn't [played] too much matches on clay, and it was a pretty good result. And then in Wimbledon, same thing."
This time channeling Larry David, by "pretty good," he means he won the whole thing both in Paris and London. Now a four-time Grand Slam singles champ at the age of 21, Alcaraz enters the US Open seeking his third consecutive major title.
"I don't want to think that it's going to be the same [as] the previous two Grand Slams," he cautioned, "but I'm not worried about not having too many matches on hard court."
Despite his 14-match Grand Slam winning streak, it has not been all smiles lately for the magnetic Spaniard. He enters the US Open on a rare two-match losing streak, a heartbreaking defeat to Novak Djokovic in the Paris Olympics final preceding the loss to Monfils, in which his frustrations boiled over on court.
"I felt like it was the worst match that I've ever played in my career," Alcaraz said after the Frenchman beat him, 4-6, 7-6(5), 6-4, in Cincinnati. "I've been practicing really well. I was feeling great. But I couldn't play. I want to forget it and try to move on to New York."
The US Open could be just the place to return to winning ways. The Spaniard has made deep runs in each of this three New York appearances, reaching the quarterfinals in his 2021 debut before winning his maiden Grand Slam in '22 and making the semis last year.
